New research reveals towns and cities with the most interest in gambling

There are concerns from gambling campaign groups on Teesside, as a new study reveals Hartlepool has the most interest in gambling, compared to anywhere else in the UK.

The data came from an online casino company – showing the town had the highest online search rates for words like lottery or tombola.

Laura Oselton, gambling manager for NECA in the North East said: “Nationally there’s been an increase across the board and there’s currently a lot of work going on around information gathering to identity the need across the areas, so that the correct support is available.

“It’s all around the education and the awareness, so getting the narrative out there that people can seek support.

“It’s making it a safe and comfortable space for people to talk about what they’re going through, so that we can provide the most appropriate support.”

Hartlepool takes the top spot as the UK’s top gambling capital with a total of 8,647 monthly searches per 100K.

Hartlepool’s population of 34,211 has shown the most interest in gambling more than anyone else in the UK.

Within this ranking, the three most popular terms had a significantly high number of searches across the UK.

Lottery is the most popular search term, with an average monthly search volume of 2,213,333. Tombola is the second most searched gambling term, with 1,003,583 monthly searches in total. Lastly, Casino comes in third with a total of 154,250 monthly searches overall.

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