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Online gambling plays an increasing role in addiction counseling in Lower Saxony. In 2025, around six out of ten analyzed counseling cases involved problematic online gambling, compared to just under half in the year prior. The proportion of cases involving online sports betting increased markedly.
Problems with online gambling are reported more frequently in outpatient gambling addiction counseling in Lower Saxony. This is evident in the new client documentation of outpatient gambling addiction counseling services in Lower Saxony for 2024 and 2025 (Klient:innendokumentation der ambulanten Glücksspielsuchtberatungen in Niedersachsen), analyzed by Dr. Tim Bastian Brosowski and Dr. Tobias Hayer, researchers at the University of Bremen.
Individuals seeking counseling reported which forms of gambling caused them problems. Among counseling cases with relevant data, the proportion reporting problems with online gambling increased from 49.5 percent in 2024 to 60.7 percent in 2025. This corresponds to an increase of just over 11 percentage points. This comparison is based on 594 counseling cases with relevant data in 2024 and 718 cases in 2025.
“Online gambling problems account for a significantly larger share of documented counseling cases than in the previous year,” says Tim Bastian Brosowski, co-author of the study. “The results provide insights into the issues that lead people to seek counseling and highlight areas where prevention and support can be most effective.”
The trend in online sports betting is particularly pronounced. The analysis of individual forms of gambling revealed that approximately 23 percent reported problems with online fixed-odds betting in 2025, compared to about 16 percent in the previous year. For online live betting, where bets are placed during an ongoing sporting event, the proportion rose from about 11 percent to 19 percent. Problems with online slot machines were reported in approximately 32 percent of cases, up from about 29 percent the previous year. Since clients could report multiple forms of gambling, these groups overlap. The upward trend is driven in part by market developments: as incentives for gambling expand, the risk of developing a gambling addiction increases, and this shift registers in the support system with a temporal lag.
A joint analysis of both reporting years reveals differences among the groups seeking counseling. Individuals with online gambling problems were more likely to be under 26 years of age, less likely to be employed, and more likely to have a higher level of formal education. This group also exhibited a higher incidence of gambling-related debts exceeding 10,000 euros.
Meanwhile, more individuals seeking counseling reported issues with multiple forms of gambling. In 2025, this applied to nearly half of the cases with relevant data, compared to around 41 percent in the previous year. Approximately one in five clients reported at least three forms of gambling that caused problems.
“For the counseling process, it’s essential to take a holistic view of gambling behavior,” explains Tobias Hayer, head of the Gambling Research Unit at the University of Bremen. “When multiple forms of gambling contribute to problems, prevention and support must be designed to address all forms.”
Problems with electronic gambling machines in physical venues remain a key focus of counseling. In 2025, they were documented in 358 cases, compared to 342 the previous year. However, due to the overall increase in the number of counseling cases analyzed, their share fell from about 56 to 47 percent.
The current report includes 1,000 counseling cases from 2025, comprising 811 cases involving individuals with gambling problems and 189 involving family members. Data was systematically collected by professionals at 26 locations in Lower Saxony and compared with data from 876 cases from the previous year. The study was supported by the Ministry of the Interior, Sports, and Digitalization of Lower Saxony.
The findings describe the situation at the participating counseling centers and do not support conclusions about the prevalence of gambling problems in the total population. When comparing the two years, it should be noted that two additional counseling locations were included in 2025.
Dr. Tim Bastian Brosowski
University of Bremen
Gambling Research Unit
Email: timbro@uni-bremen.de
Phone: 0421 218-68710
https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/entities/publication/9a9d42cb-3e1f-49aa-bde1-2a...
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