Gambling Commission Reports a Sharp Rise In Gambling-Related Suicide Cases
Recent reports published by the Gambling Commission in the UK revealed that approximately 250-650 people committed suicide due to their difficulty in coping with gambling-related issues. Latest surveys indicated that gamblers from Britain on an average spent around £14.5bn to purchase and avail various gambling products and services respectively.
With online gambling growing at a rapid pace, there has been a sudden increase in the number of gambling enthusiasts participating in various online gambling activities across the length and breadth of the UK. The data released by the Gambling Commission revealed that British gamblers spent $18 billion between Oct 2017 and Sep 2018. It has been observed that gamblers from the UK majorly spent at online casinos followed by sports betting and the National Lottery. Not only youths but adults have also been equally participating in gambling activities leading to the acceleration in the gambling addiction rate. Unfortunately, even children are suffering from compulsive behavior caused by gambling. The figures that multiplied by 4 times in the last couple of years reveal the threat imposed by this culture.Â
In its efforts towards controlling the devastating condition,Gambling Commission issued a warning to all the gambling operators in the country to ensure that their platforms and affiliate partners don’t run any opportunity of ‘free-play’ games without conducting proper age verifications. This step was taken as a measure to keep gambling options out of children’s accessibility. The licensing and regulating authority also reminded the operators that any lapse in following the instructions thereof would be considered as a violation of its code of conduct and liable to penalty under the license agreement.Â