Report

Annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024

The Gambling Commission's 2023 to 2024 Annual report and accounts. For the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

Published
17 October 2024

Last updated
17 October 2024 - Changes

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Contents
Performance report
Overview of the British gambling sector

Overview of the British gambling sector

Today in Great Britain, approximately 25 million (just under half) of the adult population have spent money on gambling in the last 4 weeks¹.  

The gambling sector we regulate comprises a diverse range of products used by a wide range of consumers. Gambling behaviour is multidimensional, consumers play on different products, for different experiences, in person and online – sometimes at the same time. 

The Path to Play research (2022)² explored how consumers experience gambling and what factors influence them. We know that gamblers are not homogenous, and everyone’s experience will be slightly different, but the research encompassed the moments typically experienced by consumers.

Passive influences such as winning experiences (either winning themselves or hearing about others winning) have the biggest influence on motivations to gamble. Whilst catching the eye, special offers and direct communications (emails, text, or app notifications) were most cited as external triggers.

Macro trends can also impact how a consumer gambles. Our research into the impact of increases in the Cost-of-Living³ (2023) found that 1 in 5 gamblers who reported changes in their gambling behaviour (either increased or decreased) said this was entirely due to increased cost of living. In addition, 8.5 percent of gamblers reported using gambling to supplement their income on a regular basis. We have continued to stress the need for extra operator vigilance during these times of heightened consumer vulnerability.

The gambling industry 

In 2023, there were over 2,300⁴ gambling operators in the British gambling market licensed to provide gambling activities in Great Britain, covering both land based and online activities.

The following statistics give a snapshot of the sector:

total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) of British gambling industry (2022 to 2023): £15.1 billion – an increase of 6.8 percent when compared to April 2021 to March 2022
total GGY of British remote and/or online sector (2022 to 2023): £6.5 billion – a 2.8 percent increase from April 2021 to March 2022.

In Great Britain in 2023 to 2024, there were:

144 casinos
650 bingo premises
1,512 licensed arcades
2,261 online operators
5,995 betting shops
184,126 gaming machines in the previous premises.

Consumers and gambling 

After several years in development, the Gambling Commission launched the first wave of participation data from the new Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) in February 2024.

The GSGB provides a consistent and frequent way of collecting data amongst adults in Great Britain and will provide regular data outputs to help us understand changes in gambling behaviour amongst the population and sub population groups.

The first release of data from the GSGB was based on 4,800 respondents and centred around gambling participation, focusing on the types of gambling activities that people take part in and the reasons why people gamble.

Findings from the first release showed that in 2023, just under half of the adult population gambled each month⁵, this equates to: 

approximately 25.0 million adults gambled in 2023 (14.0 million excluding those who only play Lottery draws)
approximately 19.6 million adults gambled online in 2023 (8.1 million excluding those who only play Lottery draws) 
approximately 15.4 million adults gambled in-person in 2023 (9.6 million excluding those who only play Lottery draws).

The National Lottery, society, and scratch cards were the most popular gambling activities in 2023. 

As the GSGB is a new survey, it does mean that we cannot compare the GSGB data to data from previous alternative surveys. With time, the data collected from this series will grow and enable us to look at trends and comparisons across this data source.

The impact of gambling

Whilst measurement is complex, studies show that there are hundreds of thousands of adults experiencing serious issues with their gambling.

The Commission have enhanced the way we measure the impact of gambling using the GSGB, and we will be reporting our first set of data on the impact of gambling in Summer 2024.

This new data will be reported objectively looking at both sides of the impacts of gambling, including how consumers enjoy gambling and their motivations for participating alongside findings for the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) and the negative consequences of gambling.

In the meantime, we continue to use measures from the Health Survey series for the impact of gambling. The most recent data from 2021⁶ (according to the PGSI or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)) showed that 0.4 percent of the population scored 8 and above on the PGSI or 5 and above on the DSM-IV indicating a mental disorder.

National Lottery 

The following statistics give a snapshot of the latest figures for the National Lottery: 

£1.7 billion raised for good causes during 2023 to 2024
over £48 billion raised for good causes since 1994⁷
approximately 31 percent of people reported buying a National Lottery ticket in the past 4 weeks, with around 21 percent of players purchasing tickets in retail shops, 45 percent purchasing tickets online and 33 percent purchasing tickets in both retail shops and online in 2023⁸.