UK Gambling Study: 48% Gamble within Four Weeks

The gambling regulator in the UK, the Gambling Commission, released its first wave of results from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). The initiative follows years of development and seeks to collect better data about gambling participation in the country. Ultimately, such vital data is expected to play an important role in improving UK gambling regulations.

The first release of the GSGB’s Wave 1 data focuses on participation in gambling activities. The research probed what gambling activities people engage in, how often that happens and why they gamble. The data from Wave 1 is based on responses from approximately 4,800 adults aged 18 or older. Collection of the data was completed between July and November 2023.

The GSGB Year 1 Wave 1 report uncovered that some 48% of the people interviewed participated in gambling activities over the last four weeks. While this percentage sounds high, just above one fifth of the gamblers, or 21%, confirmed they participated only in lottery draw games such as charity lottery draws, the National Lottery and others. Excluding the respondents who only participated in lottery games reduces the rate of people who participated in gambling activities to 27%.

Further details reveal males between the ages of 45 and 54 years old were identified as the group with the highest gambling participation rate. However, if the lottery players were excluded from that group, the younger demographic between the ages of 18 and 44, was recognized with the highest rate of gambling participation.

The Study to Help Identify Trends, Changes in Behavior of Gamblers

The newly released data reveals that 38% of the respondents admitted to engaging in online gambling activities over the last four weeks. Still, online lottery participation was predominant considering that once such players are excluded, participation in online gambling falls to 16%. According to the GSGB, this result “highlights the large proportion of online gamblers that only gamble on lottery draws.”

The report uncovered details regarding the participation of gambling activities in person with 29% of the respondents admitting to participating in such activities. Once lottery draw-only players were excluded, the rate of participation in in-person gambling decreased to 18%.

When asked why people engage in gambling, predominant answers were for fun/entertainment or monetary reasons.

“The GSGB provides a consistent and frequent way of collecting data amongst adults in Great Britain and will provide regular data outputs in order to help us understand changes in gambling behavior amongst the population and amongst sub population groups.“

Ben Haden, director of research and statistics at the Gambling Commission

Upon releasing the results from Wave 1 of the GSGB, Ben Haden, the Gambling Commission’s director of research and statistics, commented on the topic. He spoke about the importance of the new study, adding that it will help identify and track trends in the behavior of gamblers.

Haden said that there will be reports issued quarterly, collecting the responses of approximately 5,000 participants. Once a year, a GSGB annual publication will be released that will summarize all collected data. Finally, Haden said that the study will not only focus on the positive side of gambling but analyze negative tendencies as well.