British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007
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The
British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007 was undertaken
to help the Gambling Commission understand the nature and scale of
gambling in Great Britain at a point before the Gambling Act 2005
was implemented. This was the second such survey, the first
being published in 2000.
It was independently carried out by NatCen, in collaboration with
Professor Jim Orford at the University of Birmingham and Professor
Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University.
A random sample of 9003 people aged 16 and over participated in
the survey. Further information on the methodology used in this
survey is available in Methodology
summary - September 2007.
Data collected by the survey also formed the
basis of a range of secondary analysis projects. Further
information on these or secondary analysis projects
is available at: British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007 related
research.
What were the key findings of the survey?
68% of the population, that is about 32
million adults, had participated in some form of gambling activity
within the past year. This compares to 72% (about 33 million
adults) in 2000.
For around 10 million people, their only
gambling activity in the past year had been participating in a
National Lottery draw. In 2000 this figure was 11 million.
Excluding people who had only gambled on the
National Lottery draw in the last year, 48% of the population, or
about 23 million, had participated in another form of gambling in
the past year. This compares to 46% (about 22 million adults)
in 2000.
The most popular gambling activities in Great
Britain in 2007 were:
- the National Lottery draw (57%)
- scratchcards (20%)
- betting on horse races (17%)
- playing slot machines (14%).
The survey measured the levels of problem
gambling using two internationally recognised scales, the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
4th edition (DSM IV), and the Canadian Problem Gambling
Severity Index (PGSI). This allowed us to check for reliability
within our survey and to compare our findings with those found in
similar studies around the world.
The DSM IV screen found that the rates of
problem gambling in the adult population was about 0.6%: this
equates to about 284,000 adults. This is the same percentage
of the population that DSM IV identified in 2000. The PGSI
screen identified 0.5% of the adult population with a gambling
problem, or around 236,000 adults.
A summary of the findings can be found at:
British gambling prevalence survey 2007 - executive summary - July
2008
What were the attitudes to gambling of the people surveyed?
People who responded to the survey were more negative than
positive in their attitudes towards gambling. The average view was
that gambling was more harmful than beneficial for individuals, and
for society, and should not be encouraged. However, generally
people surveyed agreed that people should have a right to gamble
and that gambling should not be banned.
Page last reviewed: June
2012