Statistics on Gambling, Drinking and Drugs

Gambling
The UK regulated gambling industry had a turnover of £84 million in 2006/7.

From results obtained from a prevalence survey conducted by the Gambling Commission in 2007 we know that 68% of the population (approx. 32 million adults) had participated in some form of gambling in the year prior to the study. 

The most popular gambling activities were:

• National Lottery Draw 57%
• Scratchcards 20%
• Horse racing 17%
• Playing slot machines 14%

Results from the survey also highlighted the fact there are 284,000 adults who are "problem gamblers"

  As of 31^st March 2009 there were:

• 8862 betting shops in the UK
• 641 Bingo licensed bingo clubs 40% of which are run by either Gala Bingo or Mecca Bingo
• 143 Casinos in the UK

Alcohol consumption

• £40 billion pounds of UK household expenditure is spent on alcoholic drinks.
• Alcohol consumption per head has doubled in the last 50 years
• There are 6.5 million "quite heavy" drinkers and 1.8million "very heavy" drinkers
• According to Office for National Statistics figures there were 9031 "alcohol related" deaths in 2008
  The figure was 4,023 in 1992
• NHS figures show that drinking alcohol amongst 11-15 year olds has declined slightly from 55% who have had at least 1 alcoholic drink in 2006 to 52% in 2008.

Drug Misuse

• In 2006/07 10.0% of adults aged 16 to 59 living in England and Wales had used one or more illicit drug in the last year, a decrease from 12.1% in survey year 1998.
•  5.9% of adults had used an illicit drug in the last month, a fall from 7.1% in survey year 1998.
• For younger adults aged 16 to 24, drug use in the last year fell between survey year 1998 and 2006/07, from 31.8% to 24.1%, whilst the use of Class A drug use remained stable between survey year 1998 and 2006/07.
• The proportion of 11-15 year olds who reported having taken drugs in the last year was 17% in 2006 and 2007 and 15% in 2008.
• In England in 2006/07 there were 6,743 admissions to hospital with a primary diagnosis of a drug related mental health and behavioural disorder.
• There were a total of 1573 deaths in England and Wales attributed to drug misuse in 2006/7