Report
Prohibition of gambling on credit cards
This report focuses on research conducted around the prohibition of gambling on credit cards
Contents
- Executive summary
- Background and approach
- Methodology and limitations
- Operator Implementation and customer behaviour
- Credit cards and digital wallets
- Deposits prior to the introduction of the ban
- Displacement to other high-cost credit sources
- Displacement to illegal sources of funds
- Bypassing the ban through other behaviours
- Displacement to unlicensed gambling sites
- Inconvenience to leisure gamblers
- Conclusions and next steps
- Appendices
Displacement to other high-cost credit sources
- Metric
- Gamblers aren’t displaced to other high-cost credit sources, such as payday loans
- Concern
- Gambling with borrowed money through the use of credit cards was associated with harms, but displacement to higher-cost sources of credit is likely to be even more harmful
- Assessment
- The use of non-credit card sources of credit for gambling has remained stable.
The reported rate of gambling with other forms of borrowed money in our Online Tracker survey has remained broadly stable over the period observed since the prohibition on gambling with credit cards was introduced.
The graph shows the quarterly reported rate for the use of overdrafts, payday loans, other loans, utilising mobile phone accounts for making payments or borrowing from family and friends to fund gambling activity.
Figure 1. Proportion of past 12 month gamblers that had gambled with other forms of borrowed money in the last 12 months
| Overdraft facility | Payday loans | Other loans | Family and friends | Mobile phone account | Base size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 2018 | 4% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1645 | |
| March 2019 | 4% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 1587 | |
| September 2019 | 5% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 1551 | |
| December 2019 | 4% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 1534 | |
| March 2020 | 3% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 1565 | |
| June 2020 | 3% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 1473 |
| September 2020 | 5% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 1528 |
| December 2020 | 3% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 1575 |
| March 2021 | 3% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 2% | 1492 |
| June 2021 | 4% | 2% | 2% | 4% | 2% | 1480 |
The lack of increase in payday loans amongst those that had gambled within the previous twelve months is consistent with YouGov Profiles (opens in new tab) data. Based on information from their panel, the use of payday loans has been stable during the 2019-2021 period.
Figure 2. Have you ever taken out a short-term or payday loan?
A payday loan is a small, short-term unsecured loan with high interest rates also known as “cash advances”.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, and I have completed payment | 7% | 8% | 8% |
| Yes, and I am in the process of completing payment | 2% | 2% | 2% |
Those that reported using borrowed money (family, overdrafts or loans) to gamble in the Consumer Voice research stated that it was the financial instability of Covid-19 that led to their use of borrowed money rather than the ban on gambling with credit cards.
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Prohibition of gambling on credit cards - Displacement to illegal sources of funds
Last updated: 15 January 2024
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