How Many of Your Employees Gamble While Driving for Work?
Driver Safety Theatre: Session
29th April 2026, 14:15
Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for taking your seats and coming to this session. This is a fascinating session.
I first got introduced to John about a month and a half ago, maybe two months ago, by a colleague who said, "This is something new that you weren't aware of, and you really need to listen to it." It's all about the problem of online gambling, how endemic it has become, the impact it has on drivers, and the scale of the problem. I was absolutely astounded by it.
So, here to tell you more is John Gillum from Gambling Harm UK.
JG: Thank you very much. That's my group there cheering me on! Welcome.
Actually, to be truthful, I was having a photograph taken, and I said to them, "You must stay," and I hope that by the end you'll feel it was worth it.
Firstly, thank you very much for joining me today.
The question we've got is: how many of your staff are actually gambling while driving for you? That's the question. So, if I asked you how many of your staff are actually gambling, would you know?
Thank you. That's the answer I would expect. The reasons for that are probably threefold, based on the assumptions of our work.
The first thing is that although your industry has lots of safety systems that monitor things like deviation in driving, or maybe even people being tired, what you will not know is why. The reason for that is that gambling is known as the hidden addiction.
When I found out my son was gambling, we had no idea. When I was sitting in A&E while he was trying to take his own life, it suddenly clicked. How had I missed this? He'd been gambling for in excess of six years at that point. We'd picked up bits and pieces, but it really is the invisible addiction.
The other issue is that most companies tend to have policies covering alcohol and drugs. When we ask people whether they incorporate gambling as a potential issue they should consider, generally the answer is no.
So, what I hope to do today is inform you more so you'll be in a better position to determine whether this is something you should give consideration to.
That's what the title was, but the presentation is going to cover the following. We're going to explore the emerging risks and public safety implications of gambling.
All I want to say is two things. First of all, the number of people requiring support for gambling is now estimated at around 1.6 million in England and around 2 million across the UK.
Based on previous experience of delivering these sessions, there's a chance that someone here could be gambling at a level where it's a risk, or could be someone like myself – an affected other. That means someone who's directly impacted by someone else's gambling.
If that's the case, and you're looking for support at the end, I can talk to you about how you can access that support. It's also available on our website and through the national clinics.
The first thing I'm going to say is that the first video is quite impactful.
A lot of the story, when it was published in the national newspapers in February this year, focused on the family, the impact on them, the impact on the driver, and, you might say, an element of blame in the way it was written about the driver.
What it didn't explain, however, was the way these electronic gaming products, in particular, are designed to be addictive. Unfortunately, for some people, these games can result in a level of addiction where accidents could occur.
What I'm going to try to do today is explain a little bit more about gambling, how it can lead to addiction through a combination of videos, talk a little about the human factors involved in driving, and then hopefully leave you with more information so you'll be in a position to go back to work and say, "This is something we really ought to consider."
So, what is gambling disorder?
The first thing to say is that it's what's known as a behavioural addiction. It isn't something that we put into our body. It's something we are taught – something we learn. We learn it through doing it.
Therefore, if we have ready access to these electronic gaming apps, we play quite a lot. Subsequently, for people experiencing gambling disorder, what they've actually got is an impulse control disorder.
They are unable to stop themselves without support. They feel like they're in a cage. They're caught in this cycle. They want to give up, but they can't because their body and their brain are saying, "You've got to gamble. You need to gamble."
They get annoyed because they've failed to do that, or because other people criticise them for their gambling. They feel guilty because they know the gambling is not just affecting them – they can often see it affecting their family.
Finally, there's what we call an "eye-opener." What I mean by that is that for someone experiencing gambling disorder, it's highly likely that when they wake up in the morning, the only thing on their mind is gambling.
"How do I recover my losses from yesterday? Where do I get the money to gamble today? How am I going to tell my wife, my husband, or the children?"
Ultimately, it's the first thing they think about. They are consumed by gambling.
This video will hopefully explain a little more about how gambling disorder can occur.
"We arranged for gambler Tony Franklin to join a unique experiment by one of the world's leading experts on addiction, Professor David Nutt."
"It's a mistake to think gambling addiction is a failure of will. It is a brain disorder which is preyed upon by the gambling industry."
"Honestly, I can feel my heartbeat rising just looking at the damn thing."
"Once you become addicted, it's very, very hard to stop because you've changed your brain. Addiction is a brain that has changed to become entrained to the desire to gamble."
So, we're going to start the task, Tony.
This will be the first time anyone has played something similar to a fixed odds betting terminal from inside an MRI scanner. The professor says it will reveal what's happening in Tony's brain as he uses a keypad to bet.
"I've got £1,000 to spend. Can I spend it all on the first spin?"
When Tony is doing his task, when he's looking at the roulette wheel and making a decision to bet, parts of the brain become activated and then can't stop. We think there's probably a chemical basis to that. That's what we're expecting to see: the habit centres are overactivated in people with gambling addiction compared with people like us.
The brain's not very active. Maybe there's a little activity here where he's thinking, "What should I do?" But it's pretty calm.
Contrast that with what happens in the next one.
"That's a huge difference from there to there."
"Exactly."
"That's in a matter of seconds as well, would it be?"
"Exactly. Absolutely."
Here we see the visual system at the back of the brain intensely activated. He's watching really closely. He wants that ball bearing to come down on his colour.
Now we look at the emotional regions. These are different regions being activated. This is the anterior cingulate cortex. This is the insula. These are the two areas of the brain that make sense of emotions. They may generate the excitement he's feeling: "Will I win? Won't I win?"
Here we see a very similar picture. In fact, the only real difference between winning and anticipating is this area here. This is an area where I think we see the sense of satisfaction.
"Yeah, I've won. That's good. Register that. Start again."
Overall, winning and waiting to see if you've won – the anticipation – are both pretty much the same. That's a really key point about gambling. It's not just the winning that counts. It's the taking part. Taking part repeatedly, even when you don't win, is just as activating to a gambler as winning.
When you're sitting at a fixed odds betting terminal, you're getting this every 20 seconds. You can have hundreds of these experiences, and in the end the process becomes habitual. It becomes addictive.
The Association of British Bookmakers told us that 99.5% of people who gamble do so responsibly.
"Gambling addiction is complex and multifaceted, and as an industry we strongly encourage responsible gambling."
I'm hoping that's given you some idea of how gambling can lead to this impulse control condition.
I also left that final section in because it's part of a BBC film. The gambling industry keeps saying it's all about responsible gambling. They almost imply that it's the individual who is responsible. What they do not explain are the risks associated with games that are designed by psychologists to be addictive.
Ultimately, if you're that individual with a gambling disorder, you feel you can't share it because you think you're the person with something wrong with you. That's an important point for employers who are trying to create an open environment where staff feel able to declare issues.
Our charity is called Gambling Harm UK because, when we talk about gambling, there are a number of ways in which people can be affected. We haven't got the time today – these presentations are often two hours or more – but I'll briefly mention four areas where gambling harm can have an impact.
The first is financial. Most people immediately say, "It impacts people financially." Yes, it does, but that's actually the least of the worries for someone who gambles.
It also impacts relationships. It can lead to arguments and relationship breakdown. All of these factors start affecting your life, and if your life is affected, it can impact your ability to concentrate. That's the point – stress and distraction begin to affect work and study.
Most importantly of all is the impact on physical and mental health. These include increased stress, reduced confidence, anxiety, poor sleep, depression, and other addictions. Quite often, you find cross-addictions as people try to manage the addiction they're already experiencing.
You're probably already aware of drugs and alcohol. What this next video is going to do is explain how gambling compares in terms of quality of life for individuals. It's based on a study carried out in New Zealand.
"How harmful is gambling to quality of life when measured like other health conditions?"
Researchers in New Zealand and Australia calculated disability weights for gambling using the same public health methods applied to disease and injury.
A disability weight of zero means perfect health. A weight of one is equivalent to death. In this figure, gambling is placed on that scale.
The key result is striking. Severe gambling harm has a disability weight of around 0.5. Placing it alongside severe alcohol use disorder.
It is more harmful than moderate alcohol use disorder and amphetamine dependence, and only less severe than conditions like schizophrenia or heroin dependence.
Even moderate levels of gambling harm cause a quality of life loss similar to substance dependence, while lower levels of gambling harm show harm comparable to anxiety disorders or chronic respiratory disease.
The message is clear. Gambling harm is not minor, rare, or marginal. When measured properly, gambling ranks with some of the most serious public health conditions we recognise today. It exists across a continuum, not just at the extreme end. Even lower levels can result in anxiety.
So now let's look at it with regard to driving. You'll all know that to drive safely, you need to be able to concentrate. Your reaction times need to be good. You need to be able to stay focused.
Unfortunately, for those experiencing gambling harm, each of those can be affected. For someone who's an affected other, I'm not saying a lot about that today, but when my son was in a position where he was looking to take his own life, and I was trying to drive to the hospital that night with him and then drive home, you can probably imagine that my focus at that point was not good.
Imagine an affected other living with the worry of whether they're going to have enough money to put food on the table. All these are factors. So I'm not just looking at those people who drive. This can equally affect family members and other close relatives.
Fatigue and sleeplessness are also factors. It's possible to gamble constantly. I know people who have gambled for 24 hours without sleep. It's easy to do. It's on the phone.
So you can see the way it impacts people. It can affect emotional state, as we've said, causing worry and anxiety. It causes distractions. You're thinking about gambling when you're driving, not thinking about the road ahead or focusing on it. Then there's mental health and suicidality.
Research shows that people experiencing gambling disorder have a higher risk of suicidal ideation as well. So there is a link there too.
Just a couple of quick references on that. Reduced focus and slower reactions are natural consequences if you're tired. You only need to lose concentration for a second or two.
Then there's digital distraction and preoccupation. With mobile phones, gambling apps, messaging, and free bets are readily available. "Did I win? Have another spin." Your phone is there. We heard about the driver who spent two hours driving while gambling.
So the whole time that individual was on the road, there was a risk. Then there's stress, inattention, and impulsivity. Sometimes you're not in the best frame of mind to start your journey. You may be distracted by an argument you've just had or be pushed for time. "Now get out of the way, mate." Your emotions are in control, but to safely get from A to B, your mind should be focused on the road.
So let's look at the scale of gambling harm. As I've said already, there's about 1.6 million adults in England, and probably around 2 million across the whole United Kingdom, who are at a level where it's believed they require support for their gambling. As I said, those are often people at the higher end, but gambling harm exists across a spectrum.
Who might be most at risk? Young adults, individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds, and males. Although I don't want to move away from females, we're seeing an increasing number of women experiencing gambling disorder, and they can also be the affected family member. It isn't just these groups, but they potentially represent those at higher risk.
This next slide looks at the following. We'll go through it quickly because of time.
The blue columns show the percentage of the population who gamble. Around 36.5% of 18 to 24-year-olds are known to gamble. The black columns represent the percentage of that 36.5% who are actually experiencing gambling disorder.
You can see it decreases with age. But also remember that the brain is still maturing up to the age of 24. These younger drivers will hopefully be driving for many years to come, so it's important to be aware of that.
If we look at ethnicity, we see that the propensity to gamble is lower in some ethnic minority groups than among White Caucasians. However, they experience greater harm.
The reason for this is believed to be a couple of factors. Quite often in these cultures it's considered wrong to gamble, whether for religious or cultural reasons, and people feel less able to seek support. It's already known that shame and stigma prevent around four out of every ten people from seeking support, even when they know they need it. That's why it's so important to create an environment where those people can access support.
Final couple of slides.
There was a longitudinal study carried out in Canada over seven years. What it showed was that, during that study, the risk of those who gambled being involved in a road traffic accident was twice as high. It examined road traffic injuries alongside gambling behaviour.
So there is evidence. To be honest, more evidence is needed, but I think there's enough to suggest this is an issue organisations should be giving attention to within their work environment.
Remember that people might think gambling harm stays at home. It doesn't. It crosses boundaries and exists in the workplace, whether that's through driving for work, driving home, or driving to work.
Thank you for listening.
ST: Thank you very much, John. I think everyone will agree that was a fascinating subject, and probably one most of you weren't aware of in terms of the scale of the issue. Does anyone have any questions for John?
Audience: Just in terms of companies that have a delivery service, how do you incorporate this with your staff? You can't just go to them and ask.
JG: Well, firstly, inside the Driver Safety document today there's an article from myself, or rather from our charity, which talks about the things you can do.
Basically, the most important thing is to create an environment that tells staff they can be open about any problems they experience. I'm not just talking about gambling. It could be anything, and that is critical.
You also need to put, I'll use this term, visual prompts or leaflets around the workplace saying, "If you're experiencing gambling harm, or if you're worried about your own or someone else's gambling, feel comfortable speaking to us."
As an organisation, you've then got to adopt a set of policies and an approach that doesn't penalise people if they come forward. If you do that once, the issue will remain hidden.
Instead, you can support those people. Ultimately, create an open environment, encourage discussion, and share this information so people understand that if they have been gambling, they should seriously think about whether they're fit to drive. I wouldn't necessarily make it a standalone issue. It should be incorporated as part of your general awareness training.
Thank you.
ST: John, thank you very much. Have a round of applause for John. Thank you.
