Gov. believes treatment can help one million+ problem gamblers in England

The UK Government has posted an update on how gambling treatment can be improved in England, arguing that there are, as of right now, an estimated 1.6 million adults who engage in various levels of harmful gambling. The severity of these harmful practices varies, and thus, the recommended treatment options do as well.

According to the government’s latest update, some 970,000 of these people may actually benefit from a fairly simple form of treatment intervention, classified as "Level 2 Intensity" by the government, which would require each individual who suffers from gambling-related problems to attend two or three interviews with trained specialists who specialize in helping individuals overcome addictive and harmful gambling habits.

Another 243,000 adults are said to be in the more serious category of harm, which necessitates them to attend 8 to 14 sessions, as outlined by the severity of their problem, which would benefit from "Level 4 Intensity" treatment, the government has explained.

These sessions must be conducted by a practitioner who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on gambling disorders specifically. The government also believes that the toughest case of gambling harm involves 40,000 adults, who should be enrolled in a 12-week residential program, the most serious of the treatments available.

These results come at a time when gambling is undergoing transformative change in the United Kingdom. The Gambling Commission, the country’s regulator, has come up with a new data collection methodology but warned that the results between the old methods used to identify gambling harm and the new ones are not comparable.

The regulator has also stepped up its efforts to make sure that people who suspect fraud in any form in the gambling sector, can report it safely through a newly-launched anonymous service just for this purpose.

Meanwhile, gambling among youths may have decreased, the regulator has found out, indicating that the measures it has been pushing for over the past years may have been yielding the intended results. The recent information published by the government, though, does not concern just adults.

According to the findings, 912,805 children live in households where people gamble, and the government argues that these children too may need support to overcome harmful practices that could fester and become worse later in life. In the meantime, the UK is preparing to introduce a mandatory levy on gambling companies that could see more funds directed towards gambling treatment and harm prevention.

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