Evaluating the credit card ban for gambling in Great Britain

LONDON, Aug. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The credit card ban for gambling in Great Britain has been evaluated in a report by The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). Evaluation of the credit card ban for gambling in Great Britain (opens in new tab) published today, has assessed the impact and effectiveness of the ban.

Great Britain was the first country to implement a complete ban on credit card use for online and offline gambling (apart from non-remote lotteries) in April 2020. The ban prohibits licensed gambling operators from accepting payment by credit card, including payments through a money service business. The credit card ban was designed to add friction to the process of gambling with borrowed money, adding a layer of protection for people at increased risk of gambling-related harms.

The evaluation intended to:

• Determine the degree to which the ban was implemented as intended,
• Examine the extent to which credit card users changed their gambling behaviours as a result of the ban,
• Understand the impact on gambling-related financial harms experienced by people who gamble with borrowed money,
• Understand the impact of the credit card ban on friends and family impacted by gambling and people who gamble who are not currently experiencing harm, and
• Examine how the COVID-19 pandemic interacted with the implementation and outcomes of the credit card ban.

The mixed method evaluation included the use of quantitative data drawn from an existing Online Tracker Survey, commissioned by the Gambling Commission, and qualitative data from interviews with organisational stakeholders, people who gamble, and friends and family affected by gambling. Key findings include:

• The credit card ban was successfully implemented, however, communications about the ban did not reach all people who gamble.
• Overall, the ban was perceived to be a positive change by people who gamble; friends and family affected by gambling; and gambling treatment/support providers.
• People experiencing moderate and high levels of problems from gambling were the most likely to be aware of the ban's implementation.
• The increased friction imposed by the credit card ban did not always result in changed patterns of gambling.
• People experiencing no reported problems from gambling, and people experiencing low levels of problems from gambling were more likely than people experiencing moderate and high levels of problem gambling to report reduced use of credit cards to gamble and use of borrowed money to gamble post-ban.
• Most people who gamble reported that their borrowing behaviour did not change post-ban, and nearly all continue to avoid illegal forms of borrowing.
• There was no change in the likelihood of being aware of tools to minimise the risk associated with gambling products
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic added challenges to implementation, making it difficult to distinguish the impact of the ban from the impacts of the pandemic.

Sokratis Dinos, Director of Health Policy, The National Centre for Social Research:

"It is vital to understand the impact and effectiveness of any gambling harm prevention/reduction initiative to achieve intended outcomes and reduce gambling harms in practice. In this report we have highlighted the successes of the credit card ban, the confounding timing of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the work that remains."

Tim Miller, Gambling Commission Executive Director of Research and Policy, said: "We welcome the publication of this independent evaluation of the credit card ban introduced in April 2020.  We are pleased that the evaluation has found that the ban was successfully implemented, increased friction in gambling with credit as intended, and was perceived to be a positive change.

"We will closely examine the entire report's recommendations to consider how they may inform discussions for the development and implementation of any future policies."

As part of a programme of work to strengthen the evaluation of gambling initiatives that seek to minimise the risk associated with gambling in Great Britain, Greo's evaluation team provided third-party management and commissioned NatCen Social Research to conduct the evaluation.

To read the full report and recommendations, you can download a copy of the Evaluation of the credit card ban for gambling in Great Britain (opens in new tab)

Note to editors: For all media enquiries, please contact Katie Crabb, Head of Marketing and Communications, NatCen at katie.crabb@natcen.ac.uk