Report
Gambling participation in 2019: behaviour, awareness and attitudes
A report providing an overview of consumer gambling behaviour in Great Britain in 2019
Contents
- Executive summary
- Preface
- Gambling participation
- Problem and at-risk gambling
- Online gambling behaviour
- Consumer analysis
- - Self-exclusion and gambling management tools
- - Information to players
- - Terms and conditions
- - Complaints
- - Social media and advertising
- - Social gaming
- Perceptions and attitudes
- Appendix – methodology
Social gaming
The Commission’s online survey also contains questions asked to both gamblers and non-gamblers about wider gambling issues and topics of interest to consumers, including: self-exclusion and gambling management tools, information to players, terms and conditions, complaints, social media & advertising and social gaming. These are asked on a quarterly basis, biannually or annually depending on the nature of the questions.
The boundaries between social gaming and commercial gambling have become increasingly blurred as a result of:
- The growth in use of social media by social gaming and gambling companies
- An increasing convergence between the products of traditional gambling and social gaming businesses
As such, participation in social gaming has been tracked in the online survey since its launch in 2015. Questions are asked to all respondents on a bi-annual basis.
Of all respondents asked, 20% had participated in online gambling-style games. This figure increased to 29% among those who had gambled online in the past 12 months. Both of these figures have remained stable from 2018.
Figure 46: Ever participated in online gambling style games (Online Tracker; all respondents n=4,145, gambled in past 12 months n=2,078)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All respondents | 21% | 21% | 24% | 21% | 20% |
| Gambled online in past 12 months | 32% | 31% | 33% | 30% | 29% |
Participation in online gambling-style games among online gamblers was highest for those aged 25-34 (41% of all those who had gambled online in the last 12 months). However, since 2018, a significant decrease of 8 percentage points has been seen in this age group. Participation between 2018 and 2019 was stable across all other age and gender categories.
Figure 47: Ever participated in online gambling-style games amongst online gamblers by gender and age (Online Tracker; n=2,078)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All respondents | 32% | 31% | 33% | 30% | 29% |
| Males | 31% | 31% | 32% | 32% | 30% |
| Females | 33% | 31% | 34% | 28% | 28% |
| 18 to 24 | 41% | 47% | 41% | 41% | 39% |
| 25 to 34 | 45% | 43% | 52% | 49% | 41% |
| 35 to 44 | 39% | 37% | 41% | 36% | 38% |
| 45 to 54 | 30% | 28% | 29% | 29% | 29% |
| 55 to 64 | 21% | 17% | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| 65 and over | 11% | 11% | 14% | 9% | 8% |
The most popular gambling-style games were slot or fruit machine style games, with 64% of social gamers having played these in the last four weeks. Levels of participation across all game types were comparable to 2018, with the exception of casino games seeing a decline (32%; a 10 percentage point decrease from 2018). Since 2015, the proportion of respondents playing fruit or slot machine games has increased significantly, from 52% to 64%. In contrast, since 2015, a significant decline in playing casino games (a 9 percentage point decrease from 2015) and bingo (an 8 percentage point decrease from 2015) has been seen.
Figure 48: Past four week participation in online gambling-style games amongst online gamblers by game type (Online Tracker; n=418)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slot/Fruit machine games | 52% | 56% | 58% | 59% | 64% |
| Poker | 33% | 38% | 39% | 33% | 29% |
| Casino games (like roulette or blackjack) | 41% | 44% | 42% | 42% | 32% |
| Bingo | 51% | 51% | 46% | 43% | 43% |
Amongst social gamers who had also gambled, 51% stated that the first activity that they undertook was gambling to win money. 44% reported playing online gambling games first. The remaining 5% could not remember which activity they had done first, all of which have remained stable from 2018.
Figure 49: First activity participated in (Online Tracker; n=500)
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Played social games first | 51% |
| Gambled first | 44% |
| Don't know | 5% |
Social media and advertising
Last updated: 23 February 2022
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