After drugs, alcohol and tobacco/vaping, it’s time to return to another vice.
“Gambling” – in the context of this post – covers higher-end, high-stakes stuff (bookmakers, casinos, online gambling) rather than the National Lottery (which has been looked at/will be looked at again separately).
According to the latest figures from the National Survey of Wales1:
- 63% of respondents took part in gambling (in the 12 months between April 2022 to April 2023).
- 24% participated in non-lottery or scratchcard gambling, though lotteries and scratchcards were the most popular form of gambling overall. A further 11% played bingo.
- 11% took part in online gambling.
- 8% bet via bookmakers, with 2% betting privately.
- 37% didn’t gamble at all.
The things to take away from the survey are that the proportion of people taking part in (what could be called) “traditional” gambling via bookmakers and (newer) online gambling is relatively small. However, it’s still a significant chunk of the population (a bit like the smoking figures) to warrant regulation.
Only 3% of people were identified as taking part in either moderate or high-risk gambling based on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (more on this later).
Problem gambling is considered to be a public health issue by the NHS and an addiction in line with alcoholism and drug abuse. In 2022, gambling addiction was estimated to cost Welsh health and social services £70million-per-year2.
There are numerous taxes associated with gambling (too many to mention). The latest estimates suggest gaming duties raised just under £100million in Wales during 2022-233.
According to the 2021 Census, just under 2,000 people were employed in “gambling and betting activities” in Wales4.
Cardiff-based Dragon Bet is (as far as I’m aware) the only Wales-based online bookmaker. Flintshire-based Corbettsports runs a network of in-person bookmakers. There are also several sizable local casinos – mainly based in Cardiff and Swansea.
Gambling & Devolution
Nearly all powers over gambling (including the National Lottery) are non-devolved and reserved to the UK Government & Parliament5. Only Northern Ireland has significant devolved powers in this area.
There’s only one (slightly bizarre) exception, which is the power to issue new licences for fixed-odds betting machines with a stake value of £10 or more. This power was devolved in the Wales Act 2017.
In the end, this power has proven worthless as the UK Government cut the maximum allowable stake on fixed-odds betting machines to £2 in 2019.
Why Wales can have control over this single very specific issue – but do nothing material on gambling as a whole – is typical of how the UK and devolution work.
1. Welsh Government, National Survey of Wales (30th October 2024). “Gambling: April 2022 to March 2023”. Available at: https://www.gov.wales/gambling-national-survey-wales-april-2022-march-2023-html
2. Senedd Cymru Research Service (19th August 2022). “Taking a public health approach to gambling”. Available at: https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/taking-a-public-health-approach-to-problem-gambling-in-wales/
3. Office of National Statistics ( 7th June 2024) “Country and regional public sector finances revenue tables (financial year ending 2023)”. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/publicsectorfinance/datasets/countryandregionalpublicsectorfinancesrevenuetables
4. Office of National Statistics (8th December 2022). “Industry and occupation data”. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS060/editions/2021/versions/1
5. Government of Wales Act 2006, Schedule 7A, Section B18: “Betting, gaming and lotteries”.
