ABSTRACT
Social concern about gambling invariably centres around the proneness and/or vulnerability of certain social groups which are regarded as especially ‘at risk’ with regard to inducement to gamble, in particular since the legalization of off-course betting for cash. In this brief chapter we set out our findings on the social distribution of gambling along four key dimensions: age, income, class and sex. The indicator used is mean ‘total’ gambling frequency 1 over a twelve-month period, the term ‘total’ comprising participation in pools betting; on- and off-course betting; pub, club and private gaming; gaming-machine betting, and club bingo. The unit whose frequency is measured is the gambling session, not individual games within a session. (See p. 102 for age and income groupings.)
