NatCen: Credit Card ban had no impact on high-risk gamblers

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has published its evaluation report on the ‘Credit Card Ban for Gambling in Great Britain’.

In April 2020, Great Britain became the first nation to implement an outright ban on the use of credit cards for gambling transactions. The ban was implemented based on evidence that the use of credit cards was associated with greater harms amongst people who gamble.

Research pointed to GambleAware data gathered between July 2018 and July 2019 from 139,152 gambling accounts across seven gambling operators, which detailed that 5.7% of overall deposits into online gambling accounts were made using credit cards.

Although credit card transactions remained relatively low in usage, GambleAware noted that gamblers with significant wins or high losses were more likely to use credit cards, as indicated by 26% of players with losses exceeding £5,000.

Furthermore, evidence showed that 19.8% of account holders who had received an intervention had used credit cards to gamble.

NatCen was commissioned by the Gambling Research Exchange (Greo) to undertake a full evaluation of the impact of the credit card ban, beginning in June 2021 and concluding in February 2023. 

The evaluation assessed the impact and effectiveness of the ban, focusing on its implementation, changes in gambling behaviours, the reduction of financial harms, and the effects on individuals who participate in gambling.

Of significance, NatCen evaluated whether the ban fulfilled its key mandate to add friction to the process of gambling with borrowed money, thereby adding a layer of protection to vulnerable people to reduce gambling-related harms.

Researchers noted that the ban was implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led UK operators to revise their staff operations to provide support to customers.

NatCen employed three methods of research: a scoping stage for developing an evaluation plan and research tools, followed by a quantitative analysis of survey data on gambling behaviours. The research concluded with a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with gamblers, individuals affected by gambling, and key organisational stakeholders, such as support providers and gambling operators.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic impacting player habits, the evaluation noted that the ban was effectively implemented, as operators ensured compliance with the ban and demonstrated a commitment to informing customers that credit cards were no longer accepted.

Of note, the ban achieved its highest awareness among people experiencing severe gambling problems, who were informed via email, text, and pop-up messages.

In terms of the ban’s principal objective, the evaluation revealed that it had added friction to the process of gambling with borrowed money, particularly among those with lower levels of gambling problems.

“The ban seemed to have a more noticeable impact on those experiencing a low level of, or no reported problems from gambling, who were less likely to (directly and indirectly) use credit cards for gambling after the ban.”

“We saw a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of people experiencing a low level of, or no reported problems from gambling.”

However, the analysis of survey respondents’ self-reported borrowing to fund gambling over the past 12 months indicates that, overall, the introduction of the ban did not have a significant impact on the use of borrowed money for gambling. As reported, “most people who gamble reported that their borrowing behaviour did not change post-ban, and nearly all continue to avoid illegal forms of borrowing.”

On gambling behaviours, NatCen concluded: “Overall, among all people who gamble, the proportion of people using credit cards to borrow money for gambling has remained fairly stable. In the pre-ban wave in March 2020, the proportion of all people who gamble who had used a credit card in the last 12 months was 6%, compared with 8% in the post-ban March 2021 wave.”

Regarding the reduction of financial harms, researchers noted a decrease in the use of borrowed money for gambling among certain groups, particularly those with low gambling problems.

Further positives were observed as the ban helped low-risk customers reflect on their gambling behaviour and manage their finances better.

Despite the research providing inconclusive results, the evaluation highlighted the importance of targeted policy measures to further address gambling-related harms.