Great Britain Gambling Participation Drops Latest Survey Reveals

Gambling participation in Great Britain has taken a noticeable dip, according to new data from the Gambling Commission’s latest research.

Gambling Participation, Three Points Down 

In the three months covering September 2024 and January 2025, 46% of adults engaged in a form of gambling. 

The percentage is down three points from the 49% that was recorded in the previous study  which covered the previous three-month period. 

The survey was part of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), one of the world’s largest surveys analyzing gambling behaviours from 20,000 yearly respondents.

The study was conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and included 5,191 respondents aged 18 and over.

One particularly interesting detail is the fact that the study only covered 6% of people aged 18–24, even though they make up 11% of the adult population, and they are more prone to suffering from gambling problems.

At the same time, those aged 65–74 made up 18% of the sample, while representing 12% of the population.

Lottery Players Driving Fluctuations 

Interestingly, if you take out those who only bought lottery or charity lottery tickets, which made up 19% of gamblers, overall gambling participation drops further to 28%. 

That number remains unchanged from the earlier survey, suggesting more casual lottery players are driving the fluctuation in totals.

As for specific trends, lottery participation saw a drop from 37% to 34% since October, though it still leads all gambling activities. 

Scratchcards and sports betting followed at 12% and 10%, respectively. Online gambling participation hit 37%, or 17% if lottery-only players are excluded, a slight increase from the prior period.

The report also showed continued growth in online slots, with 23.4 billion spins in Q1 and 4.5 million average accounts, a record high for that category.

Online gambling recorded a strong boost early in the year, with gross gambling yield hitting £1.45 billion ($1.95 billion) between January and March. This marked a 7% rise from the same time last year, thanks largely to growing interest in online slots.

At the end of January, YouGov presented a study reflecting the rise of online poker in the UK, with 18 to 34-year-olds accounting for 43% of the online poker player base.

Study Reliability Concerns

While the numbers are revealing, they’ve also raised concerns. The UK’s Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) recently reviewed the GSGB study after questions emerged around the reliability of the data. 

In a report published Thursday, the OSR made nine recommendations for improvement but concluded that the data remains suitable for publication.

“While there are still some areas that require further exploration and improvement, we have not seen evidence to suggest that the statistics are not fit for publication,” the OSR stated.

It emphasized that the GSGB remains one of the most consistent sources for gambling data in the UK. 

The OSR recommended clearer communication about the study’s limitations, improved transparency in methodology, and broader engagement with stakeholders.

With the Gambling Commission already addressing some of OSR’s findings and recommendations, director general Ed Humpherson welcomed the “proactive approach” while encouraging the commission to “publicly set out the progress it has made.”

At the start of April, the UK Health and Social Care Select Committee ran a session aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of current regulatory reforms and finding better measures to help solve gambling-related issues.