Alarming dimensions takes in Britain gambling addiction as a large portion of the country’s citizens, unable to cope with daily needs due to punctuality, turn to gambling.

New report by GamCare, which offers support to people with gambling addiction, shown that people who hope to gain money through gambling are more likely to have difficulty buying food or keeping their home warm than the general population.

The research, based on a YouGov poll of more than 4,000 people, is being released after the UK regulator imposed a record fine of £19.2m on the William Hill gaming groupl because it failed to protect consumers and stop money laundering.

“What we are seeing is that a proportion of those most affected by the cost of living crisis are those who are turning to gambling to deal with their financial worries,” said Anna Hemmings, chief executive of GamCare.

The YouGov poll showed that 20% of people with gambling problems find it difficult to find money to buy food, compared to 11% of the general population.

And 16% reported that goes to public places to save on heating costs, compared to 5% of the general population.

The government is trying to tighten the rules on gambling in recent years to prevent addiction phenomena by setting a maximum bet amount at terminals and banning the use of credit cards for gambling.

In the William Hill companies, the Betting Commission identified many failuresas he announced on Monday. One customer, for example, spent £23,000 in 20 minutes without any checks, while another lost £14,900 in 70 minutes.

GamCare has said it has launched a new counseling service to help problem gamblers get their finances back on track.