UKGC Posts Gambling Participation Data for January-April

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published its latest Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) statistics, outlining customers’ participation in gambling between January 2024 and April 2024. The report is based on the responses of 5,191 Brits from across the country.

The Figures Remained Mostly Stable

Among other key findings, the UKGC learned that the overall participation in gambling remained stable at 48%. Additionally, roughly 21% of the active players said they had only played the lottery in the past 4 weeks. Gambling participation, excluding lottery play, therefore, stood at 27%, according to the UKGC.

Overall, 38% of respondents had gambled at least once within the past four weeks. Excluding the lottery-only players, this figure stands at 16% instead. In-person gambling in the past four weeks at the time of the survey was 29%. Excluding lottery-only players, the participation rate was 18%.

The UKGC noted that these figures show how big lottery gaming is.

The National Lottery was the most popular gambling activity, with 32% of respondents admitting to having played within the last four weeks. The percentage of charity lottery players, meanwhile stood at 16%. The next three most popular activities were stretcher tickets (14%), sports betting (9%) and online instant win games (8%).

The largest group of gamblers, according to the GSGB, is the males aged 45 to 54. However, men aged 35 to 44 were more active in their gambling participation.

The most popular reasons for participation in gambling were “for the chance to win big money” and “because it’s fun.”

The figures, the UKGC noted, are mostly in line with the data and trends seen in 2023.

The UK Market Seeks to Protect Vulnerable Groups from Harm

In the meantime, gambling industry representatives just attended the GamProtect event and commented on the potential of this new player safety scheme and problem gambling database. Kane Purdy, chair of GamProtect’s board said that 5,000 players have already been added to the program, increasing the industry’s capability to tackle gambling-related problems.

Purdy denied the notion that the scheme is Orwellian, emphasizing that its intent is to protect the vulnerable and not to limit the responsible.

In the meantime, the Advertising Standards Authority just launched an investigation into the way operators make use of gambling-related memes that reach audiences under 18 to build brand awareness.

The ASA expressed concern about memes’ potential appeal to younger audiences and wants to learn whether such marketing violates its rules.