Customer awareness and use of gambling management tools
This information is collected through our Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) experimental statistics based on responses from those who have gambled within the previous 12 months. You can learn more about how we collect our data on gambling participation and the prevalence of problem gambling.
There is a balance to be struck between ensuring customers are aware of support such as gambling management tools available to them and customers needing to use such tools. Increased customer awareness can indicate that licensees are taking appropriate steps to make sure customers know how to get help managing their gambling. But increased customer use could mean either that awareness is up, or that more people are worried about their gambling and needing to set limits. Our aim is therefore on increased consumer awareness, though we will continue to monitor the uptake of tools as well.
Percentage of past 12 months gamblers who are aware of and who have used gambling management tools - Year to December 2022
| Gambling management tool | Percentage of past 12 month gamblers aware of tool | Percentage of past 12 month gamblers who have used tool |
|---|---|---|
| Self-excluded from gambling companies websites (via GAMSTOP), premises or a specific product | 26.9% | 2.6% |
| Set spend, loss or deposit limits on the amount of money spent gambling | 47.5% | 4.0% |
| Set reminders, limits or a time out to control the time spent gambling | 35.2% | 2.3% |
| Using blocking software to stop access to gambling websites | 18.3% | 1.2% |
| Asking my bank to block payments to gambling companies | 18.5% | 1.8% |
| Taking a break from online websites without using a specific gambling management tool | 29.0% | 4.3% |
For past 12 months gamblers who have used gambling management tools, what impact has this had on their gambling - Year to December 2022
| Impact of using tool on gambling | Percentage of past 12 month gamblers experiencing impact |
|---|---|
| Reduced time or money spent gambling | 80% |
| No impact on time or money spent gambling | 19% |
| Increased time or money spent gambling | 1% |
Before 2022, these questions were asked using our Online Tracker Survey, which ended in March 2022. The question definitions changed in the new survey, and therefore data in Year to December 2022 is not comparable with previous years.
Percentage of past 12 months gamblers who are aware of and who have used gambling management tools - 2019 to 2021
| Data definitions | Year to December 2019 | Year to December 2020 | Year to December 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time Out - percentage ever used | 3% | 4% | 6% |
| Time Out - percentage aware (but not used) | 34% | 41% | 41% |
| Financial Limits - percentage ever used | 9% | 8% | 11% |
| Financial Limits - percentage aware (but not used) | 49% | 51% | 52% |
| Reality Check - percentage ever used | 3% | 5% | 8% |
| Reality Check - percentage aware (but not used) | 27% | 32% | 34% |
| Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion - percentage ever used | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Multi-Operator Self-Exclusion - percentage aware (but not used) | 24% | 27% | 25% |
| Exclusion by product - percentage ever used | 2% | 3% | 4% |
| Exclusion by product - percentage aware (but not used) | 24% | 26% | 26% |