A pilot study examining gambling behaviour before and after the launch of the National Lottery and scratch cards in the UK

This study monitored gambling behaviour in 206 residents of Cambridgeshire before and after the launch of United Kingdom's National Lottery. A Gambling questionnaire which included the gambling criteria from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV, questions about demographic data, and National Lottery and scratch cards purchases was administered randomly to residents in Cambridgeshire. The study found that the affirmative responses in the DSM-IV criteria increased significantly at 6 months after the introduction of the National Lottery and remained at that level at the 12 month follow up. Although symptoms of pathological gambling rose, there was no increase in cases of pathological gamblers. Furthermore, individuals with annual household incomes of less than pound 20,000 and individuals with less than an O level education purchased more National Lottery tickets and scratch cards per week. This may suggest that these people may be vulnerable to develop problems with lottery and scratch card play.