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
Devices used
This section reports data on online gambling behaviour in the year to December 2019, using data collected via the Commission’s quarterly online survey conducted by Populus. Surveys are conducted with people in Great Britain aged 18+. The core questions in the survey ask online gamblers about how and where they gamble online.
Once online gamblers have been identified in the survey (using questions covering past four week gambling participation by activity, followed by mode of play), they are asked which devices they use to gamble online17.
As of 2019, mobile phones have now become the most popular method of accessing online gambling, with 50% of all online gamblers doing so. This is a statistically significant increase of 6 percentage points from the 44% recorded in 2018 and represents a continuation of a trend of increasing mobile use for gambling in recent years. Younger age groups were more likely to have gambled online on a mobile phone, with 76% of 18-24 year olds, and 72% of 25-34 year olds having done so. This compares to 14% of those aged 65+. There have been increases in gambling via mobile in all age groups, with the exception of the 25-34 age category.
It can be observed that a larger proportion of males had gambled using mobiles (56%) than females (44%).
There have been declines in the use of laptops for gambling (38%; a 6 percentage point decrease from 2018), which may in part be off-setting the increase in mobile participation. There have also been decreases in the use of SmartTVs for gambling (2%; a 1 percentage point decrease from 2018).
Since 2015, there have been declines in the proportion of respondents using laptops (a 23 percentage point decrease) and PCs (a 12 percentage point decrease) to gamble, and a 27 percentage point increase for mobile phones.
Figure 10: Devices used for online gambling in the past four weeks (Online Tracker; n=3,597)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | 38% | 34% | 32% | 28% | 26% |
| Laptop | 61% | 55% | 50% | 44% | 38% |
| Mobile | 23% | 29% | 39% | 44% | 50% |
| SmartTV | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% |
| Tablet | 16% | 21% | 19% | 17% | 16% |
Figure 11 shows that those in the younger age groups are most likely to gamble with multiple devices, and the likelihood of using more than one device to gamble reduces with age. There have been observed increases in participation in gambling on mobile phones among all age groups, which are discussed in more detail on the following page. There has been significant decreases in participating in gambling on laptops among the 18-24 (43%, a 10 percentage point decrease), 55-64 (40%; a 7 percentage point decrease), and 45-54 (37%; an 11 percentage point decrease) age groups.
Figure 11: Devices used for online gambling in the past four weeks by age18 (Online Tracker; n=3,597)
| 18 to 24 | 25 to 34 | 35 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 to 64 | 65 and over | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tablet | 18% | 11% | 15% | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| SmartTV | 5% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0% |
| Mobile | 76% | 72% | 66% | 52% | 26% | 14% |
| Laptop | 43% | 37% | 36% | 37% | 40% | 39% |
| PC | 20% | 20% | 20% | 23% | 30% | 42% |
Figure 12 highlights the growth in mobile use by age group amongst online gamblers. There have been increases in participation in gambling on mobile phones among all age groups, with all groups except those aged 25-34 showing a statistically significant increase. The increase is most pronounced amongst those aged 45-54 (52%; a 13 percentage point increase), followed by those aged 18-24 (76%; a 12 percentage point increase), those aged 35-44 (66%; an 8 percentage point increase), 55-64 (26%; a 5 percentage point increase), and finally, those aged 65+ (14%; a 5 percentage point increase).
Figure 12: Use of mobile phone devices for gambling in the past four weeks by age19 (Online Tracker; n=3,597)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 24 | 37% | 54% | 65% | 64% | 76% |
| 25 to 34 | 42% | 50% | 62% | 70% | 72% |
| 35 to 44 | 28% | 35% | 51% | 58% | 66% |
| 45 to 54 | 18% | 18% | 33% | 39% | 52% |
| 55 to 64 | 5% | 12% | 16% | 21% | 26% |
| 65 and over | 3% | 5% | 6% | 9% | 14% |
References
17 Respondents are able to select multiple devices over multiple activities.
18 Figures add to >100% due to respondents being able to select more than one option.
19 Percentages add to >100% as age groups are stacked
Location of online gambling
Last updated: 22 February 2022
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