It's time for Scotland to catch up on women gambling problem

A flutter, a spin, a punt – such light words for a pastime that can have such potentially devastating consequences.

Gambling is mainstream. The Scottish Health Survey 2021 found 58% of respondents had spent money on at least one gambling activity in the previous 12 months. More of us gamble than not.

Like drinking alcohol, it's a legal activity enjoyed by the majority – but when it goes wrong for a minority, it can go unspeakably wrong.

Gambling is a greedy industry, one that generates vast revenues, that relies on people's misery and losses in order to succeed. And it is one fuelled by stereotypes – a masculine thing to do, down the dog track or at the bookies.

But this is no longer the case. The pandemic lockdowns and the ease of online gambling have seen a rise in the number of women gambling and, consequently, becoming addicted.

Gambling firms saw a gap in the market and began to target women with bright pink branding, talk of a sense of community, talk of glamour. New mums, women in a vulnerable place, are lured in by social media influencers.

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Women I spoke to on the issue recently talked of having dozens of accounts open at any one time, begging, borrowing and stealing credit cards in other people's names in order to open more.

Some had been called by the gambling harms teams but lied about how much they earned or their savings, and the impact it was having. There was no follow up or double-checking yet that's the thing about addiction – it makes a person a very good liar.

With the vast revenues being made – the UK's gambling market is one of the most profitable in the world – there is little incentive for firms to regulate themselves.

The sums involved are neatly illustrated by Denise Coates, Bet365's co-CEO, who famously commissioned the architects behind the Millennium Bridge to design and build her a £90 million mega-mansion. There is a bitter irony to her home being built from profits that cause other women to be evicted from theirs.

The £90 million mega-mansion that belongs to Bet365 co-CEO Denise Coates (Image: Newsquest)
A Scottish Parliament briefing from late December last year outlines Scotland's public health approach to gambling harms. It details figures from a report in 2016 that estimates the costs to Britain of problem gambling were between £260 million and £1.16 billion per year and £20 to £60 million for Scotland.

"This is likely a significant underestimate," it adds.

The report highlights that gambling harms are more likely to affect people living in socio-economic deprivation more than those in affluent areas and will co-occur with other health inequalities, such as poor mental health or alcohol addiction.

It acknowledges that women are more affected by the gambling of others.

In Scotland, where we tend to think of ourselves as more progressive than England in multiple regards, we are around eight years behind on this issue. There are – astonishingly – no women-only services in Scotland, despite the specific and unique needs of female gamblers.

It has fallen to charities – same as it ever was – to campaign on the issue. The Simon Community Scotland has launched a push to ensure women-specific services are set up to bring us in line with our southern cousins. They are lobbying MSPs with the hope the Scottish Government takes notice.

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This is not a niche or new talking point. A meeting of the Scottish Women's Convention two years ago looked at the issue too, concluding by calling for women-only support groups.

It also outlines that the correlation between women gambling and abusive relationships must be acknowledged, pointing out that one aspect of women gambling is an attempt at earning enough money to leave their partner. It will be interesting to see if the SNP's pledged fund for women to leave abusive relationships has any effect there.

Interestingly, while calling for restrictions on gambling promotions and advertising, such as those for alcohol, the group also said measures in place in betting shops to protect customers from addiction should be extended to protect workers, the majority of whom are women.

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One woman I spoke to, Tracey O'Shaughnessy, left me wanting to weep as she outlined how her partner's problem gambling had led to her losing her home, her car, her job, his job, having to support him through a trial, being unable to pay for her sister's funeral as he'd emptied her bank account.

He was, she said, a wonderful, funny, caring man and she loved him. But the monster took over.

I asked if she was frustrated by questions about why she didn't just leave him and it struck me that her situation was similar to the narrative and tropes around domestic abuse.

Why did you enable him, why did you let him do it, why don't you just leave?

It has taken the dedication and perseverance of decades of feminist campaigners to challenge those stereotypes and undermine the stigma.

Gambling harm and how it affects women is also a feminist issue and must be dealt with using dedicated women-only responses. It's time for Scotland to catch up.