Report
Understanding the impact of increased cost of living on gambling behaviour - Final report
Gambling Commission's research report with Yonder into the behaviours and motivations of gamblers during the current period of high cost of living in Great Britain.
Contents
- Introduction
- Methodology
- How to read this report
- Summary of findings
- Personal finances and cost of living
- Financial comfort and concerns around cost of living
- Relationship with gambling
- Impact of cost of living on gambling behaviours
- Gambling has stayed the same
- Gambling because it’s fun but will make cutbacks if needed
- Gambling is an inherent part of life
- Change in gambling behaviour
- The number of occasions on which you have spent money on these gambling activities
- The amount of money spent on these gambling activities
- The amount of time spent gambling on these activities
- Typical stakes
- Motivations for gambling
- Conclusions
- Appendix A - Gambling activities
- Appendix B - Reading longitudinal tables
- Appendix C - Motivations for gambling – subgroup analysis by statement
Motivations for gambling
Gamblers were presented with a list of statements that could be used to describe possible motivations for gambling. They were then asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed that each statement describes their motivation(s) to gamble. The surveyed statements included using gambling to supplement income to:
- pay for household bills
- to pay for luxuries that an individual wouldn’t normally buy
- to help offset loans and/or credit card debt.
Overall, less than 10 percent of gamblers in both waves 1 and 3 of tracking agreed with any of the motivations statements. There were also no significant shifts between waves for each statement. A sub-group analysis of those who were most likely to agree with at least one of three statements (out of the four surveyed in total) was carried out. These statements were:
- "I use gambling to supplement my income on a regular basis"
- "I use gambling to help pay household bills"
- "I use gambling to help offset loans and/or credit card debt".
Gamblers who agreed with at least one of these three statements, they were most likely to be:
- those with a household income of £55,000 or more
- those who are working, those with children aged 18 or under
- those with a mortgage as well as those renting
- those with a university degree, those who identify as non-white
- those who live in a household with at least three people
- individuals with a marital status of ‘single’.
Sub-group analysis of individual motivations includes small sample sizes of those who ‘agree’ with each of the statements and should be viewed as indicative only. This can be found in Appendix C.
The following text summarises key longitudinal movements of all respondents between Wave 1 and Wave 3 across four statements that were used to describe possible motivations for gambling. Demographic analysis was not possible for this section due to low base size.
For instructions on how to read the longitudinal tables please refer to Appendix B.
Previous trend analysis showed that 8 percent of respondents in wave 1 and 9 percent of respondents in wave 3 agreed that they were using gambling to supplement their income.
Table 3.1 Motivations for Gambling movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I use gambling to supplement my income on a regular basis
| I use gambling to supplement my income on a regular basis | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
8% | 52% | 22% | 26% | 0% |
| Counts | 46 | 24 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
7% | 24% | 24% | 51% | 0% |
| Counts | 37 | 9 | 9 | 19 | 0 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
84% | 4% | 5% | 91% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 471 | 19 | 22 | 429 | 1 |
| Don't know | 1% | 20% | 0% | 80% | 0% |
| Counts | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
Statement: I use gambling to supplement my income on a regular basis Base: All those who have engaged in a gambling activity in the last 4 weeks W1/W3 (559). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat or strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat or strongly disagree).
An analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that of the respondents who previously agreed with this statement in Wave 1, most continued to agree with it in wave 3 (52 percent). Similarly, of those who previously responded that they disagreed with this statement in wave 1, a large majority was likely to continue to disagree in wave 3 (91 percent). Among those who previously responded neutrally to this statement, a majority went on to disagree in wave 3 (51 percent). The greatest proportion of those who previously reported ‘don’t know’ went on to disagree with the statement in wave 3 (80 percent).
An analysis of those who report agreeing with this statement in wave 3 revealed the following shifts:
A little over half (52 percent) of respondents consistently said they agree with this statement from wave 1 to wave 3
Around a quarter (24 percent) of people that had previously responded neither agree or disagree in wave 1 to moved to agree in wave 3.
Only 4 percent of those who previously disagreed with this statement moved on to say they agree in wave 3.
A fifth (20 percent) that had previously responded ‘Don’t know’ moved on to say they agreed in wave 3.
Trend analysis showed that 5 percent in wave 1 and 7 percent in wave 3 agreed that they use gambling as a way to pay household bills.
Table 3.2 Motivations for Gambling movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I use gambling to help pay household bills
| I use gambling to help pay household bills | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
5% | 58% | 19% | 26% | 0% |
| Counts | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
5% | 19% | 31% | 50% | 0% |
| Counts | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 0 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
89% | 4% | 4% | 92% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 500 | 21 | 18 | 460 | 1 |
| Don't know | 1% | 14% | 14% | 71% | 0% |
| Counts | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
Statement: I use gambling to help pay household bills Base: All those who have engaged in a gambling activity in the last 4 weeks W1/W3 (559). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat or strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat or strongly disagree).
An analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that of the respondents who previously agreed with this statement in Wave 1, a majority continued to agree with it in wave 3 (58 percent). Similarly, of those who previously disagreed with this statement in wave 1, a large majority continued to disagree in wave 3 (92 percent). Among those who previously responded neutrally to this statement, a majority went on to disagree in wave 3 (50 percent). The greatest proportion of those who previously reported ‘don’t know’ went on to disagree with the statement in wave 3 (71 percent).
An analysis of those who report agreeing with this statement in wave 3 revealed the following shifts:
- over half of the individuals (58 percent) that agreed with this statement in wave 1 also agreed in wave 3
- a fifth (19 percent) of those that neither agreed or disagreed in wave 1 changed their response to agreeing with the statement in wave 3
- only 4 percent of people that disagreed with the statement in wave 1 changed their response to agree with the statement in wave 3
- 14 percent that had responded ‘Don’t know’ in wave 1 moved on to say they agreed in wave 3.
Table 3.3 Motivations for Gambling movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I use gambling to pay for luxuries I wouldn't normally buy
| I use gambling to pay for luxuries I wouldn't normally buy | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
9% | 42% | 27% | 31% | 0% |
| Counts | 52 | 22 | 14 | 16 | 0 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
9% | 18% | 25% | 57% | 0% |
| Counts | 51 | 9 | 13 | 29 | 0 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
80% | 4% | 9% | 87% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 449 | 16 | 40 | 392 | 1 |
| Don't know (percentage) |
1% | 43% | 0% | 57% | 0% |
| Counts | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
Statement: I use gambling to pay for luxuries I wouldn't normally buy Base: All respondents last four weeks W1/W3 (559). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat or strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat or strongly disagree).
An analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that of the respondents who previously agreed with this statement in Wave 1, a plurality continued to agree with it in wave 3 (42 percent). Similarly, of those who previously responded that they disagreed with this in wave 1, a large majority continued to disagree in wave 3 (87 percent). Along with those who reported a decrease on wave 1 also reporting the same in wave 3 (52 percent). Among those who previously responded neutrally to this statement, a majority went on to disagree in wave 3 (57 percent). The greatest proportion of those who previously reported ‘don’t know’ also went on to disagree with the statement in wave 3 (57 percent).
Around two fifths (42 percent) have maintained agreement with this statement between waves 1 and 3.
A fifth (18 percent) of those that previously selected neither agree or disagree went on to say they agreed with this statement in wave 3.
Only 4 percent that disagreed with this statement in wave 1 had changed their answer to agree in wave 3.
43 percent that had responded ‘Don’t know’ in wave 1 moved on to say they agreed in wave 3.
Finally, when asked about how the typical stake placed had changed, previous trend analysis at a total level revealed that 5 percent of gamblers, on average across waves, reported an increase in their typical stake.
Table 3.4 Motivations for Gambling movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I use gambling to help offset loans and/or credit card debt
| I use gambling to help offset loans and/or credit card debt | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 (percentage) NET: Agree |
Wave 3 (percentage) Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 (percentage) NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 (percentage) Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree | 4% | 48% | 26% | 26% | 0% |
| Counts | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Neither agree or disagree | 6% | 19% | 22% | 58% | 0% |
| Counts | 36 | 7 | 8 | 21 | 0 |
| NET: Disagree | 89% | 2% | 3% | 95% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 495 | 10 | 14 | 470 | 1 |
| Don't know | 1% | 0% | 20% | 80% | 0% |
| Counts | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
An analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that of the respondents who previously agreed with this statement in Wave 1, the largest proportion of individuals continued to agree in wave 3 (48 percent). Similarly, of those who previously disagreed with his statement in wave 1, most continued to disagree in wave 3 (95 percent). Among those who previously responded neutrally to this statement, a majority went on to disagree in wave 3 (58 percent). The greatest proportion of those who previously reported ‘don’t know’ also went on to disagree with the statement in wave 3 (80 percent).
Nearly half (48 percent) of those who previously agreed that they use gambling to help offset debt continued to agree with the statement in wave 3.
A fifth (19 percent) who neither agreed or disagreed in wave 1 went on to agree with the statement in wave 3.
Amongst those who previously disagreed, just 2 percent had changed their response in wave 3 to say that they agreed.
None (0 percent) of those who previously reported ‘don’t know’ went on to say that they agreed with the statement in wave 3.
Previous sectionCost of living on gambling behaviour 2024: Change in gambling behaviour Next section
Cost of living on gambling behaviour 2024: Conclusions
Last updated: 27 February 2024
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