The Big Step Football Betting Gambling Addiction

The Big Step - Football Gambling Addiction

The Big Step charity was set up in 2019, by bereaved families of people who had committed suicide as a result of gambling addictions.

The Big Step advocates a public health approach to preventing gambling harm through their campaigning, education and awareness work.

They have walked hundreds of miles to different football clubs, campaigning against the level of gambling products advertisements by football clubs, petitioned Downing Street, and worked with football clubs on education and awareness.

They are still campaigning for an end to gambling advertising, sponsorship and promotion in football, and for more football clubs to deliver preventative education, awareness and signposting in their community.

This could save thousands of lives, as well as reducing the other negative effects of gambling additions on the individuals, their families, friends and colleagues.

Visit their website at The-BigStep.com

How bad is gambling addiction?

Gambling addiction surveys suggest:

There are thought to be over 400,000 “problem gamblers” (aka addicts) in the UK.
A further 2 million people are thought to be at risk.
Problem gambling rates (c0.8% of the population) are higher than alcohol dependency rates (c0.4%)
c6,000 suicides are reported in the UK each year, but this is likely to be under reported.
Suicide verdicts do not capture whether the individual was known to have gambling problems.
And not all people with gambling problems report their problems.
However it is estimated that between 4% and 11% of suicides are related to gambling.
That's around 250 to 675 suicides a year related to gambling.
One in five problem gamblers had thought about suicide (19.2%)
One in twenty (4.7%) had made a suicide attempt in the past year.

How does gambling impact the brain?

Neuroscientific studies suggest there's a significant similarity between gambling addictions and drug addictions in the brain.

The "gambling win" can create a massive dopamine spike in the brain, especially in the ventral striatum and the prefrontal cortex. The addiction centers.

After a spike, unless resolved in another way, the brain starts to crave another spike.

The brain will also need a bigger spike everytime, to get the same feeling.

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