Local authorities have no legal requirement to create local area profiles; however, they can be seen as a useful tool when it comes to carrying out assessments on a local area. Local area profiles display relevant information regarding certain topic areas/policies, in this case the Gambling Act 2005. In order for the profile to be most effective, the content must be relevant - key characteristics relating to the specific area/policy can increase awareness of issues within the local area that can be connected to that specific policy.

Using a gambling related local area profile helps present useful information to the local authority that highlights potential and current issues within the local area. The highlighted issues should be considered before any gambling related decisions are made, such as authorising premise licences. Adhering to the licensing objectives is something that the local area profile contributes towards. This local area profile will look at York’s resident information such as areas of deprivation, crime and disorder and how they can relate to gambling, as well as how these factors can help identify and inform current and potential gambling related risks within the local area.

The general aims of the following Gambling Act 2005 local area profile are:

a) to identify the areas within the City of York mostly likely to be at risk of gambling related harm, which may help to identify possible persons who could be at risk of gambling related harm

b) to provide sufficient and relevant information to inform local authorities where current and potential gambling related issues are present so controls and measures can be put in place to minimise these issues/risks

c) to inform the local authority of information relevant to York in order to provide a footing for the decision making process in gambling contexts

2. York Open Data

York Open Data is a platform created by the City of York Council which holds over 1000 different datasets, all of which are related to the City itself. All of the information is available for the public to access and manipulate. The ranges of datasets on the platform are vast, some of which have helped with the creation of this profile; particularly the York Profile and individual Ward profiles.

3. York Information

York is part of the Yorkshire and Humber region and a City within North Yorkshire. York and its unitary local authority (City of York Council) provide local council services to around 204,551 residents over an area covering and estimated 105 square miles. The City is made up by 21 Wards, all of which have their own Councillor(s).

The student population in York is a huge contributor to York’s overall population with 26,694 full time students between the two Universities in York, The University of York and York St. Johns University (2021 Census). York is a popular tourist destination with vast amounts of visitors both from the UK and from overseas. The City is easily accessible, with York seen as a major railway centre frequently providing services to and from all corners of the UK. Visitors from overseas are able to access the city with ease due to the rail service from Manchester Airport and Leeds Bradford Airport just a 30 mile road journey.

3.1 Hostels/Supported Housing & Drug/Alcohol Facilities

Within the 21 York Wards there are 5 hostels, all catering for different groups of people. Fishergate has 2 hostels within its Ward, similarly with Guildhall Ward who also has 2, with Holgate Ward being responsible for 1.

In addition to this, York has a Drug and Alcohol Service which provides help for individuals, families and local communities with issues involving substance misuse. This particular service can be found on Blossom Street, within the Micklegate Ward.

3.2 Education

Understanding and being aware of the whereabouts of educational facilities should be instrumental in regards to making gambling related decisions, particularly in terms of gambling premises, as children are seen as a vulnerable group of people in gambling terms. The table below shows the schools which are in the catchment area of each Ward and alongside is the licensed gambling premises in that Ward (excluding alcohol licensed premises with gaming machine & club gaming and pub gaming licenses).

	Schools in Catchment Area		Licensed Premises
Ward	Primary	Secondary	Betting Shops	Adult Gaming	Bingo
Acomb	3	2	1	0	0
Bishopthorpe	3	2	0	0	0
Clifton	2	1	2	0	1
Copmanthorpe	1	1	0	0	0
Dringhouses & Woodthorpe	4	2	0	0	0
Fishergate	2	2	0	0	0
Fulford & Heslington	3	1	0	0	0
Guildhall	6	4	5	1	0
Haxby & Wigginton	3	1	1	0	0
Heworth	5	2	1	0	0
Heworth Without	1	1	0	0	0
Holgate	7	2	0	0	0
Hull Road	5	2	1	0	0
Huntington & New Earswick	5	2	1	0	0
Micklegate	4	2	1 betting track	0	0
Osbaldwick and Derwent	4	3	0	0	0
Rawcliffe and Clifton Without	5	2	0	0	0
Rural West York	7	3	0	0	0
Strensall	3	1	0	0	0
Westfield	4	1	3	0	0
Wheldrake	4	1	0	0	0

4. Demographics

4.1 Demographic profile

The York Open Data platform creates demographic York profiles on a quarterly basis – it has the ability to do this by using both Census information (most recently 2021) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates. The York profile on the platform provides information relating to population, households, economy and health just to name a few. York has 204,551 residents, 51.4% female and 48.6% male – percentages which are consistent with the whole of North Yorkshire. York residents include 7.3% from a black and minority ethnic community group, 83.6% are in good health, with 17.1% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

York Profile Population Breakdown

More information on York Ward Profiles can be found on the York Open Date web page here: https://data.yorkopendata.org/dataset/york-ward-profiles-2021-22-q1

5. Crime and Disorder

City of York Council works alongside North Yorkshire Police in an attempt to combat and reduce crime in the local area. In the year ending March 2024 the crime rate in York was greater than the average crime rate of North Yorkshire Police Force on the whole. It is still however lower than the average crime rate for England & Wales.

Below is a breakdown of the reported crime in York – year ending March 2024.

	Numbers of offences – 12 months ending
Offence	31 Mar 23	31 Mar 24	% change (+/-)
All other theft offences	1130	1084	-4.07%
Bicycle theft	825	903	9.45%
Criminal damage and arson	1502	1492	-0.67%
Domestic burglary	375	407	8.53%
Drug offences	353	403	14.16%
Homicide	2	0	-100.00%
Miscellaneous crime against society	200	212	6.00%
Non-domestic burglary	219	273	24.66%
Possession of weapons offences	104	119	14.42%
Public order offences	1416	1055	-25.49%
Robbery	76	80	5.26%
Sexual offences	614	524	-14.66%
Shoplifting	1510	2222	47.15%
Theft from the person	140	121	-13.57%
Vehicle offences	523	603	15.30%
Violence with injury	1879	1648	-12.29%
Violence without injury	3738	3411	-8.75%
Total	14606	14557	-0.34%

Source: iQuanta

Further information in relation to crime is available online from North Yorkshire Police for York Outer and York Inner , which provides interactive maps showing crimes and statistics within the City of York Council authority area.

5.1 Crime and gambling

In Great Britain, in 2020 42% of people agreed with the statement that gambling was associated with criminal activity, which is comparable with the figure reported in 2019 (43%), just over a 1% decline on the previous year (Gambling Commission 2020).

In the year ending December 2020 (ONS 2020), in England and Wales the types of crime that people predominantly associate with gambling are theft to continue gambling (24.5%), fraud (6.0%), drug dealing/trafficking/prostitution (3.4%) and money laundering (1.9%).

In comparison to this, 29% of people in Great Britain agree that gambling is fair and can be trusted, just over a 4% decline on the 2017 figures (Gambling Commission 2020).

The above statements and figures suggest that people’s perceptions of gambling are deteriorating, with an increase of people with negative perceptions and a decline of positive perceptions – indicating that gambling related crime is arguably a growing problem in Britain. The rates of crime have very marginally decreased in York from the previous 12 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Despite this, York’s crime contribution to North Yorkshire’s overall crime number has decreased from 32.6% year ending March 2020 to 29.6% year ending March 2021.

6. Gambling

6.1 Gambling premises

City of York Council Gambling Premises & Count
Premise Type		Count from 31/3/2024
Bingo venues		1
Betting shops		15
Adult gaming centres		1
Family entertainment centres
	Licensed	N/A
	Permitted	N/A
Betting track		1
Casinos		0
Total		18

Source: Gambling Commission

As the table above shows, there has been around a 10% reduction in betting shops in York since the last report in 2021, though there still remains plenty of opportunities to gamble within York. With there being many opportunities available, there are risks that become apparent. There are many risks associated with gambling, whether it be personal risk such as debt or crime or risk on a larger scale, to the extent where families and relationships are affected, jobs are lost and potentially homes, all as a result of uncontrolled gambling.

In relation to this local area profile and the Gambling Act 2005, identifying areas/persons at risk of being harmed or exploited by gambling is a priority. Problem gamblers are not the only ones who can experience gambling related harm – this could relate to family members, friends, employers, the community as well as the individual.

Identifying a problem gambler is difficult as there are no specific criteria to identify a person. The gambling commission does not define a vulnerable person in the context of a problem gambler.

In York the estimates of the numbers of adults who might benefit from each the following types of gambling treatment are: Brief advice (553 people, 95% Confidence Interval range is 394 to 763 people); Extended brief interventions (4,537, 95% CI range: 3,964 to 5,175); Psychosocial interventions delivered in the third sector (631, 95% CI range: 449 to 894) ; Psychologist-led cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) (544, 95% CI range 400 to 743) and Intensive residential treatment (92, 95% CI range 45 to 192)

The table above shows the highest proportion to be those that would benefit from Extended brief interventions. The table below compares the York figure for this type in comparison to the region and England. Out of the 5 treatment types this is the only one where York is above the region and England, all other treatment areas are below them.

6.2 Gambling statistics

From the latest Statistics produced by the Gambling Commission on gambling participation (year to March 2023), there were several key findings:

Overall participation in any gambling activity (in the last four weeks) was 43.5% the same as the 2022 figure for the same period. There was a drop in 2021 to 40.0% with the previous 2 years figures being around 46%.
Online gambling participation rate is 26% (a 6% increase compared to 2019), this trend probably started dude to Covid restrictions and has continued.
In person participation is 26.5% (1% increase on 2022). The figures are starting to increase slightly, but still remain lower than the 2019 figure of 35%.
Much of the online increase can be explained by increasing proportions of respondents playing National Lottery draws online.
The overall problem gambling rate is steady 0.3%.
The moderate risk rate has increased to 1.2% (an increase of 0.3% on 2022). There was a significant drop in 2021 to 0.6% from 1.5% in 2020.

The most recent Gambling participation behaviour, awareness and attitudes report was published in 2020. Key statistics and findings below:

The National Lottery draws remain the most popular gambling activity, followed by other lotteries and scratchcards.
0.8% of all respondents identified as moderate risk problem gamblers, and 2.7% identified as at-risk gamblers.
The use of mobile phones for online gamblers has remained steady at 50%.
On average, online gamblers held 3 accounts each (same as 2018).
5% of gamblers have ever self-excluded (1% decrease from 2018).
52% of online gamblers (with a social media account) were prompted to spend money on a gambling activity due to adverts they had seen on a social media platform, 3% of gamblers follow gambling companies on social media.
29% of people think gambling is fair and can be trusted (steady since 2018).
43% of people think that gambling is associated with crime.
There has been an increase in participation in online slot machine-style games and instant wins7(3.1%; a 1.9 percentage point increase from 2018).

7. Index of Multiple Deprivation

7.1 Index of Multiple Deprivation

City of York has low levels of deprivation in comparison to other districts in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The IMD provides a measure for deprivation in small areas (Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs)). To measure an areas’ deprivation level, seven factors with their individual weights (%) are considered in order to create the IMD:

Income Deprivation (22.5%)
Employment Deprivation (22.5%)
Education, Skills and Training Deprivation (13.5%)
Health Deprivation and Disability (13.5%)
Crime (9.3%)
Barriers to Housing and Services (9.3%)
Living Environment Deprivation (9.3%)

Information relating to each individual factor is gathered and ranked before they are all combined to create an overall IMD score. Once each individual area has been scored, they are ranked – York is ranked 267 out of 317 lower tier local authority districts on average IMD score (1 is most deprived) so York is the 51^st least deprived district in England. York has risen 17 places in the rankings since 2015 when it was the 68^th least deprived district.

York is the least deprived upper tier local authority out of 15 in the Yorkshire and Humber region based on 2019 average IMD score. This is the same regional ranking as in 2015.

In 2019 York is the second least deprived lower tier local authority out of 21 in the Yorkshire and Humber region based on 2019 average IMD score. This is the same regional ranking as in 2015. (Harrogate is the least deprived district in the Yorkshire and Humber Region).

In 2019 York has 1 LSOA falling in the most deprived 10% (decile) nationally and 41 LSOAs falling in the least deprived decile nationally. About a third of LSOAs in York fall in the least deprived decile nationally. York has 6 LSOAs falling in the most deprived 20% (quintile) nationally and 62 LSOAs in the least deprived quintile nationally. About half of LSOAs in York fall in the least deprived quintile nationally.
7.2 York areas of deprivation

The map and table below show all of the York Wards and their most recent IMD score, as well as previous year’s scores.

Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015: York Wards

From the above information, it shows Westfield, Clifton and Guildhall to be the most deprived Wards in York. Westfield contains 1 LSOA that features in the most deprived 10% nationally. York has a further 5 LSOAs which are present in the most deprived 20% nationally – 2 LSOAs in Clifton, 2 LSOAs in Westfield and 1 LSOA in Hull Road.

As of the 2019 IMD, these are the 10 LSOAs in York with the greatest deprivation levels:

LSOA

1. York 018B Westfield (E01013443)

2. York 009D Clifton (E01013349)

3. York 009C Clifton (E01013347)

4. York 018F Westfield (E01013448)

5. York 015C Hull Road (E01013399)

6. York 018C Westfield (E01013444)

7. York 016B Holgate (E01013394)

8. York 004D Huntington & New Earswick (E01013410)

9. York 012A Acomb (E01013335)

10. York 009E Clifton (E01013350)

Westfield has 14,086 residents with 3.5% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 80.1% are in good health, with 19.2% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Westfield Ward holds 3 LSOAs out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 018B Westfield (E01013443)

2. York 018F Westfield (E01013448)

3. York 018C Westfield (E01013444)

This includes 1 LSOA ranked in the most deprived 10% nationally - York 018B Westfield (E01013443) & 2 LSOAs ranked in the most deprived 20% nationally - York 018F Westfield (E01013448) & York 018C Westfield (E01013444).

Clifton has 9,456 residents with 9.1% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 82.7% are in good health, with 18.5% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Clifton Ward holds 3 LSOAs out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 009D Clifton (E01013349)

2. York 009C Clifton (E01013347)

3. York 009E Clifton (E01013350)

Two these LSOAs are ranked in the most deprived 20% nationally - York 009D Clifton (E01013349) & York 009C Clifton (E01013347).

Hull Road has 15,358 residents with 15.8% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 86.8% are in good health, with 17.3% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Hull Road Ward holds 1 LSOA out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 015C Hull Road (E01013399)

This LSOA is ranked in the most deprived 20% nationally – York 015C Hull Road (E01013399).

Holgate has 11,954 residents with 5.3% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 83.7% are in good health, with 16.4% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Holgate Ward holds 1 LSOA out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 016B Holgate (E01013394)

Acomb has 9,248 residents with 3.6% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 82.8% are in good health, with 16.5% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Acomb Ward holds 1 LSOA out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 012A Acomb (E01013335)

Huntington and New Earswick has 12,354 residents with 3.8% from a black and minority ethnic community group. 79.4% are in good health, with 19.3% stating that they have some limitation in day to day activities.

Huntington & New Earswick holds 1 LSOA out of the 10 most deprived LSOAs in York:

1. York 004D Huntington & New Earswick (E01013410)

8. Sources of Data

York Open Data – York Profile https://data.yorkopendata.org/dataset/york-profile
York Open Data – Ward Profiles https://data.yorkopendata.org/dataset?sort=metadata_modified+desc&tags=ward+profiles
Statistics on gambling participation and problem gambling – Annual Report June 2021 (Gambling Commission)
Gambling participation: activities and mode of access - May 2023
Gambling participation in 2019: behaviour awareness and attitudes – Annual Report Feb. 2020 (Gambling Commission)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) https://www.ons.gov.uk/
Civica – City of York Council