Report
Gambling behaviour and harm among people from different ethnic groups
This report examines how gambling participation, gambling risk, adverse consequences and use of support services vary among people from different ethnic groups.
Definitions
Past 12 months gambling
Participants were provided with a list of 20 types of gambling legally available in Great Britain that are detailed in the Appendix, including private betting or gambling, and asked which of these activities they had participated in, in the past 12 months. Participants who answered yes to participating in one or more gambling activity are described in this report as participating in gambling in the past 12 months.
Past 4-week gambling
This is not captured by a single survey item. Instead, it is derived from a series of activity-specific frequency questions (covering lottery tickets, scratchcards and/or instant win games, betting, bingo, casino games, and fruit and/or slot machines), each asked only of those who reported gambling on that activity in the past 12 months, with response options ranging from "Not in the past 4 weeks" to "Every day". Football pools, private betting, and another form of gambling were instead asked as a simple yes or no for the past 4 weeks, giving 22 past 4-week activities in total (see Appendix). Past 4-week participation on each activity was derived by treating any response other than "Not in the past 4 weeks" as indicating participation. For this analysis participation in ‘Another form of gambling’ was not included, meaning participation in 21 past-4-week activities were included.
Full list of gambling activities
The list of gambling activities presented to participants was refined and tested during the development stages of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). The aim was to update the list used in previous surveys to better represent forms of commercial gambling currently available in Great Britain, and to better capture engagement in different online gambling formats. The Appendix shows the full list of gambling activities asked about for the past 12 months and past 4 weeks.
Number of activities in the past 4 weeks
The number of discrete gambling activities undertaken in the past 4 weeks was calculated for those who had gambled in this period, based on whether a participant reported spending money on each activity. For the purposes of this count only, National Lottery draws (online and in-person) were combined and counted as a single activity, as were other charity lottery draws (online and in-person), giving a maximum possible count of 20 activities, aligning with the 20 activities captured by the past-12-months gambling variable. Elsewhere in this report, online and in-person National Lottery draws are analysed separately. Participants who had not gambled in the past 4 weeks were coded as not having taken part in any activities.
Frequency of gambling
Everyone who had gambled on a particular activity in the past 12 months was then asked to report how often, if at all, they had gambled on this activity in the past 4 weeks. Using this information, frequency of gambling was computed for each participant based on their reported highest frequency of gambling to any activity in the past 4 weeks. For example, if a participant reported purchasing National Lottery tickets once a week but bet on sports events a few times a week, they were categorised as gambling a few times a week. Response categories were: every day, a few times a week, about once a week, about once a fortnight, about once in the past 4 weeks,and less often than this (that is those who had gambled in the past 12 months, but not in the past 4 weeks).
Ethnic Group
Ethnicity is organised into 5 groups, aligning with Census ethnic group categorisation: participants from White, Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic, Asian, Black and Other ethnic backgrounds. These are derived from the following question:
Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background:
- White: English; Welsh Scottish; Northern Irish or British; Irish; Gypsy or Irish Traveller; Any other White background, please describe
- Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups: White and Black Caribbean; White and Black African; White and Asian; Any other Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic background, please describe
- Asian or Asian British: Indian; Pakistani; Bangladeshi; Chinese; Any other Asian background, please describe
- Black or African or Caribbean or Black British: African; Caribbean; Any other Black, African or Caribbean background, please describe
- Other ethnic group: Arab; Any other ethnic group, please describe.
Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)
The PGSI consists of nine questions and is asked of everyone who had gambled in the past 12 months, capturing the current experience of each of these items. Answer options were ‘Almost always’, ‘Most of the time’, ‘Sometimes’, and ‘Never’. Responses to the nine questions are summed and a score ranging between 0 and 27 is computed. Scores are grouped into the following categories:
PGSI score 0
Representing a person who gambles (including heavily) but who does not report experiencing any of the nine symptoms or adverse consequences asked about. In population prevalence analysis, participants who had not gambled in the past 12 months are also given a PGSI score of 0.
PGSI score 1 to 2
Representing low risk gambling by which a person is unlikely to have experienced any adverse consequences from gambling but may be at risk if they are heavily involved in gambling.
PGSI score 3 to 7
Representing moderate risk gambling by which a person may or may not have experienced adverse consequences from gambling but may be at risk if they are heavily involved in gambling
PGSI score 8 or higher
Representing problem gambling by which a person will have experienced adverse consequences from their gambling and may have lost control of their behaviour. Involvement in gambling can be at any level but is likely to be heavy.
Adverse consequences from own gambling
The GSGB includes a broader range of adverse consequences from gambling. These aim to add a greater level of insight into the adverse consequences of gambling that are experienced over and above the PGSI. These questions, asked of those who had gambled in the past 12 months, were split into 2 types:
Those categorised as severe adverse consequences, where any experience of them is highly likely to be harmful. This includes relationship breakdown, losing something of significant financial value, violence or abuse and crime. For these questions participants were directed to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to having experienced an adverse consequence.
Those categorised as other potential adverse consequences, which are more likely to be harmful if experienced often or may be harmful depending on the individual’s specific circumstances. This includes spending less on everyday items, increased use of credit or savings to gamble, experience of conflict within relationships, feeling isolated, lying about the extent of gambling and poor work performance or work absences. For these questions participants were directed to answer ‘never’, ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’ to having experienced an adverse consequence.
Overall harm
A new variable was derived from the items on adverse consequences. Responses to each potential adverse consequence were summed giving a score of 3 if the potential adverse consequence happened very often, a score of 2 if fairly often and a score of 1 for occasionally. The potential adverse consequence items are as follows.
How often in the last 12 months has gambling led you to:
- reduce or cut back spending on everyday items such as food, bills, and clothing
- use savings or increase use of credit, such as credit cards, overdrafts, and loans
- experience conflict or arguments with friends, family, or work colleagues
- feel isolated from other people, left out, or feel completely alone
- lie to family, or others, to hide the extent of gambling
- be absent or perform poorly at work or study
- feel guilty about the way you gamble or what happens when you gamble
- borrow money or sell anything to get money to gamble
- experience any health problems, including stress or anxiety.
Responses to the questions on severe adverse consequences were given a score of 3 if they had occurred.
In the last 12 months:
- have you lost something of significant financial value such as your home, business, car, or been declared bankrupt because of your own gambling?
- has your relationship with someone close to you, such as a spouse, partner, family member or friend broken down because of your own gambling?
- have you experienced violence or abuse because of your own gambling?
- have you committed a crime in order to finance gambling or to pay gambling debts?
This broadly replicates the DSM-IV convention of assigning higher weights to more serious items. This gives a variable with a maximum score of 39 (a maximum of 27 from the 9 potential adverse consequence items, each scored 0 to 3, plus a maximum of 12 from the 4 severe adverse consequence items, each scored 0 or 3). When these questions were first developed the Gambling Commission advised against presenting an aggregate prevalence figure using these combined data. Aligning with this approach, in this report we do not present a single total score for this derived variable. Instead, the derived variable is used only within statistical modelling as a continuous measure of relative harm severity, without assigning arbitrary threshold cut offs.
Health consequences
This is a binary variable derived from 2 items of the PGSI. In the past 12 months:
- have you felt that gambling has caused you any health problems, including stress or anxiety?
- have you felt guilty about the way you gamble or what happens when you gamble?
Response options include ‘Almost always’, ‘Most of the time’, ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Never’. Participants who selected any response other than 'Never' were categorised as having experienced health consequences.
Relationship consequences
This is a binary variable derived from 3 potential adverse consequences. Participants were asked how often, in the past 12 months, gambling had caused them to:
- experience conflict or arguments with friends, family, or work colleagues
- feel isolated from other people, left out, or feel completely alone
- lie to family, or others, to hide the extent of gambling.
Response options include: ‘Very often’, ‘Fairly often’, ‘Occasionally’, ‘Never’. Participants who selected any response other than 'Never' were categorised as having experienced relationship consequences.
Resource consequences
This is a binary variable derived from 3 of the potential consequences items and 1 PGSI item. Participants were asked how often, in the past 12 months, gambling had caused them to:
- reduce or cut back your spending on everyday items such as food, bills and clothing
- use savings or increase your use of credit, such as credit cards, overdrafts and loans.
- be absent or perform poorly at work or study.
Response options were ‘Never’, ‘Occasionally’, ‘Fairly often’ and ‘Very often’.
The following PGSI item also captures resource consequences. In the last 12 months:
Have you borrowed money or sold anything to get money to gamble?
Response options were 'Almost always', 'Most of the time', 'Sometimes' and 'Never'.
Participants who selected any response other than 'Never' were categorised as having experienced resource consequences.
Use of support services
Participants were asked whether in the last 12 months, their own gambling led them to seek help, support or information online, in-person or by telephone from:
- mental health services
- food banks or other welfare organisations
- relationship counselling and support services
- gambling support services.
Response options were Yes or No.
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Last updated: 27 October 2026
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