Guidance
Exploring Drivers of Consumer Trust in Gambling
Exploring Drivers of Consumer Trust in Gambling
Methodology
A multi-phased approach was used within this study, starting with a scoping phase that included desk research and consultation with the Gambling Commission’s (the Commission's) Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP)1. Following this, an exploratory qualitative phase took place, informing an online survey of 1,000 adults aged 18 or over who have gambled in the past 12 months. Further information for each phase follows.
Scoping phase
The scoping phase was designed to establish a comprehensive understanding of the concept of 'trust' across various sectors. This phase involved:
- an extensive desk review of existing research and initiatives relating to trust was conducted across public, private, and third sector sources. This provided a broad perspective on how trust is defined and measured in different contexts
- a review of existing consumer trust surveys, and third-party sources (such as Resolver complaints data, and the Commission’s Contact Centre (CC) data) to identify key themes and gaps in the current understanding of trust within the gambling industry
- a session with LEAP members to identify factors that impacted on their trust in the gambling industry. This session helped in refining the focus for subsequent research phases.
The scoping phase took place between January and March 2024.
Qualitative phase
To delve deeper into the complexities of trust within the gambling industry, Yonder conducted a series of focus groups with a cross-section of people who gamble.
The primary goal of these focus groups was to understand the nuanced dimensions of trust among those who gamble and to develop 'trust statements' that would be evaluated in the subsequent quantitative survey.
Sample and recruitment
A total of 4 focus groups were conducted face-to-face, each lasting 2 hours, and with a total of 24 research participants.
The focus groups took place between 13 to 20 March 2024. Participants were recruited through a specialist market research recruitment company. A spread of participants were recruited in order to achieve an engaged, balanced sample, as follows:
Group 1: Younger adults (aged 18 to 30 years) who gamble, with a preference for online gambling, once a week or more often.
Group 2: Adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble, with a mix of online and in-person gambling, once a week or more often.
Group 3: Adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble, with a preference for in-person gambling, once a week or more often.
Group 4: Adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble more ‘casually’ with lesser frequency and lower minimum deposit and/or stake spend, to explore whether attitudes towards the gambling industry and drivers of trust differed among a less engaged audience.
Discussion and stimulus
These discussions were aimed at exploring a wide range of topics related to trust in the gambling industry.
Stimulus was created by Yonder, in collaboration with the Commission, to stimulate debate and discussion within the focus groups and consisted of 2 component parts.
The first part of the stimulus drew attention to the Commission's strategic objectives for the next 3 years and its role. This was shared once participants spontaneously shared what they expected the Commission’s role and responsibility to be, to understand any gaps in knowledge and/or perception.
The second part of the stimulus was focused on 8 topics related to trust which had been identified in the scoping phase and which were captured through a thought-provoking statement and images such as news clippings. Participants were encouraged to assess which factors were important to them in building trust in the industry, based on their own experiences and/or perceptions regardless of whether they had direct experience with each. The stimulus provided the opportunity for participants to think about the factor and whether it was important or not in driving or undermining trust.
The discussion guide flow and stimulus used in these focus groups is included in Appendix 2 - Qualitative discussion guide and Appendix 3 - Qualitative stimulus.
Quantitative phase
Yonder conducted an ad hoc online survey with a sample of 1,000 adults who had gambled at least once in the last 12 months, excluding those who only played National Lottery (the Lottery) products (including scratchcards and other lottery games).
The rationale for excluding those who only play the Lottery was both due to the nature of the survey content, which required some degree of understanding and engagement with other typical gambling activities such as betting, casino or bingo games, and to ensure good representation of consumer experience with the wider gambling industry, rather than just the Lottery.
Respondents were recruited to be broadly representative, using a quota-based sampling approach, with 4 key demographics tracked: age, gender, UK region and social grade, to match the known incidence of those who gamble as occurring in the general population using random stratified sampling frames. Full sample details can be found in Appendix 4 - Quantitative sample profile. After fieldwork, weights were applied to the data to correct any imbalance that occurred in sampling, to exactly match the quotas. Fieldwork took place between 10 to 12 June 2024.
The core purpose of the online survey was to quantify the themes developed in the qualitative research and lend them statistical backing.
A Maximum Difference (MaxDiff) exercise2 was conducted to assess perceptions of trust within the gambling industry by evaluating 25 distinct statements. This method, a type of conjoint analysis, asks respondents to select the most and least important or relevant statements in a series of choices, thus revealing the relative importance of each. By forcing trade-offs, MaxDiff uncovers the underlying preferences more precisely than traditional rating scales, allowing researchers to rank the 25 statements based on their impact on trust perceptions. This approach ensures a robust understanding of which factors most significantly influence consumer trust in the gambling sector.
Scores are produced at an overall level using a calculation of the average importance given to each statement, indexed between 0 to 10 (the higher the score, the more important the statement is perceived to be).
A further question was asked relating to industry performance, with respondents being asked to give their opinion on most of the previously shown statements via a Likert scale3.
A full list of the statements tested in the survey can be found in Appendix 5 - Full list of trust statements tested in quantitative survey .
Further detail on the methodology and process for the MaxDiff exercise and how it informed final statement selection for the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) will be provided in a forthcoming technical report.
Cognitive testing
A total of 12 cognitive interviews, each lasting approximately 40 minutes, were conducted between 5 to 12 July 2024, with research participants representing a broad spectrum of gambling behaviour. The participant pool included individuals who exclusively engage in Lottery games, as well as those who regularly participate in both online and in-person gambling activities. The primary objective of the cognitive testing was to assess the comprehension and efficiency of the wording used in the proposed statements related to trust in the gambling industry which will be added to the GSGB.
The cognitive testing provided valuable insights into how participants understood and interpreted each statement. Based on the feedback obtained, refinements were made to ensure clarity, relevance, and ease of comprehension. The final selection of statements was determined through a comprehensive review, integrating findings from all stages of the research process.
Additionally, instructions for the creation of a Trust Index were developed. This index aims to quantify trust levels within the gambling industry based on the refined set of statements by producing a composite score that can be tracked over time.
A detailed description of the process for developing and finalising statements and the Trust Index, including its methodology and application, will be provided in a forthcoming technical report.
References
1 The Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) provides expert independent advice to the Commission based on its members personal lived experience of gambling harms.
2 See the How to read this report section for a fuller definition on a MaxDiff exercise.
3 A minority of statements were excluded because they did not relate directly to industry performance. They will be detailed in a later technical report on the process for devising statements used in the GSGB.
Exploring Drivers of Consumer Trust in Gambling - Introduction Next section
How to read this report
Last updated: 3 October 2024
Show updates to this content
No changes to show.