Participation and the prevalence of problem gambling

We are taking a new approach to how we collect our data on gambling participation and the prevalence of problem gambling. We want to improve the statistics we rely on to make decisions and demonstrate our impact. We will do this by modernising our questions, increasing frequency and flexibility so we can understand and respond to changes better and faster.

Timeline

This timeline tracks the progress we have made since we first launched the consultation in December 2020.

1. November 2023

   We released data from Step 3, the final step in our experimental stage of this project to improve the way we collect data on adult gambling behaviours.

   We also published qualitative research to support the development of new survey questions to understand gambling-related harm.

   We published a blog on the Gambling Survey for Great Britain Experimental data release.

2. July 2023

   We started the fieldwork for the official statistics. Fieldwork will last until end of October 2023, with results published Spring 2024.
   
   We hosted three engagement panel workshops with academics, representatives from industry and those with lived experience to provide stakeholders with an update on the project and discuss next steps.
   
   We published a blog about the Gambling Survey for Great Britain: Stakeholder engagement groups progress update.

3. May 2023

   We published a blog about measuring the prevalence of problem gambling. The blog discusses the measurement of problem gambling rates and our approach to this going forward.

4. April 2023

   We published a report written by NatCen which outlines the findings from the experimental statistics phase to date.
   
   We published a blog summarising the findings we shared with stakeholders at the Evidence Conference about the experimental report and the feedback that stakeholders gave us.

5. October 2022

   We published a blog announcing the start of the experimental statistics phase. The blog describes what we'll be doing in the experimental stage of the project.
   
   We published an update on the additional work commissioned to develop survey questions on gambling-related harm.

6. May 2022

   We held three engagement panel workshops with academics, representatives from industry and those with lived experience to share the findings from the pilot survey.
   
   We published the pilot report to evaluate the impact of the methodology.
   
   We published a blog summarising the findings from the pilot survey and outlining our next steps in the project.

7. April 2022

   Pilot report to evaluate the impact of the methodology change due to be published.

8. February 2022

   We published the report on stakeholder engagement.

9. January 2022

   We started the fieldwork for pilot survey.

10. November 2021

    We published a blog regarding the outcome of stakeholder engagement workshops and to invite others to take part in a survey asking for their views on the future research.
    
    We held three engagement panel workshops with academics, representatives from Industry and those with lived experienced to inform the pilot stage of the project.

11. October 2021

    We announced that we have appointed NatCen Social Research and University of Glasgow to lead the pilot phase of the methodology pilot.

12. July 2021

    We issued an invitation to tender via the Research Marketplace to find a suitable supplier to undertake a pilot methodology in 2021 to 2022. Consultation respondents updated via Citizen Space.

13. June 2021

    We published the outcome of our gambling participation and problem gambling prevalence statistics consultation.

14. December 2020 to February 2021

    We launched a consultation on proposals to change the way we collect adult gambling participation and problem gambling prevalence statistics.

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Last updated: 23 November 2023

Show updates to this content

Entry added to July 2023 around starting the fieldwork for the official statistics.