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.
How do Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores vary by ethnic group?
This section references information that can be found in the ethnic group topic report findings excel files that accompany this report.
PGSI scores varied significantly by ethnic group overall. Participants from each ethnic minority background had a higher rate of gambling risk than those from White backgrounds (PGSI scores greater than zero: 13.3%). Rates were highest among participants from Black (21.6%) and Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds (21.5%), followed by those from other ethnic (18.6%) and Asian (17.6%) backgrounds. The same pattern was more pronounced for PGSI scores of 8 or more, with rates 3 to 4 times higher among those from ethnic minority groups than those from White backgrounds (as shown in Table 4 in the ethnic group topic report findings).
When focusing only on people who gambled in the past 4 weeks, this pattern became more pronounced (as shown in Table 5 in the ethnic group topic report findings). Participants from White backgrounds were most likely to score PGSI 0 (76.7%), compared with 39.6% to 57.9% among participants from ethnic minority groups. Conversely, those from ethnic minority groups showed higher rates of PGSI 3 to 7 (8.7% to 13.1% versus 5.7%) and PGSI 8 or more (15% to 25.1% versus 3.4%), than those from White backgrounds as shown in Figure 4. This pattern held when focusing on participants who had gambled in the past 4 weeks on something other than lottery draws alone (as shown in Table 5 in the ethnic group topic report findings). The proportion of participants with a PGSI score greater than zero rose from 34.9% for White backgrounds to between around 53% to 61% for those from ethnic minority backgrounds. For PGSI scores of 8 or more, rates rose to 5.7% among those from White backgrounds to between 21% to 30% for those from ethnic minority backgrounds as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Gambling Participation among those with a PGSI score of 8 or more, by ethnic group (percentage)
| Ethnic group | Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks among those with a PGSI score of 8 or more | Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks among those with a PGSI score of 8 or more (excluding lottery draw only players) |
|---|---|---|
| White | 3.4 | 5.7 |
| Mixed and/or Multiple | 16.3 | 21.6 |
| Asian | 15.2 | 21.1 |
| Black | 15.0 | 21.5 |
| Other | 25.1 | 29.7 |
Base: Productive individuals who gambled in the past 4 weeks excluding participants who had only played National Lottery draw-based or other charity lottery draw-based games. Participants within each ethnic group who gambled in the past 4 weeks (unweighted: White groups = 21,452; Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups = 454; Asian groups = 862; Black groups = 305; Other ethnic groups = 99). Participants within each ethnic group who gambled in the past 4 weeks excluding lottery draw only players (unweighted: White groups = 11,219; Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups = 295; Asian groups = 514; Black groups = 196; Other ethnic groups = 72.
What explains the differences in PGSI scores?
There are socio-economic and demographic differences between ethnic groups which might explain the pattern seen. The populations of ethnic minority groups are often younger, experience greater deprivation or engage in higher-risk gambling activities, all of which are risk factors for higher PGSI scores. To investigate this, multivariable models were used to control for these factors. Incidence Rate Ratios (IRRs) above 1 indicate a higher expected PGSI score relative to the reference group (participants from White backgrounds); for example, an IRR of 2 indicates an expected PGSI score twice that of the reference group.
The unadjusted model (model 1) mirrored the descriptive findings: participants from ethnic minority backgrounds had, on average, PGSI scores around 3 to 4.7 times higher than participants from White backgrounds (IRRs - Mixed and/or Multiple backgrounds: 3.17; Asian backgrounds: 3.20; Black backgrounds: 3.28; Other ethnic backgrounds: 4.66) (see the following Table 1 and Table 6 in the ethnic group topic report findings).Controlling for socio-economic and demographic characteristics, in model 2, reduced these IRRs, but they remained statistically significant, indicating that socio-economic and demographic characteristics did not fully account for differences in PGSI scores across ethnic groups (as shown in the following Table 1 and Table 7 in the ethnic group topic report findings).
Model 3 added in participation across 21 distinct gambling activities, the IRRs reduced further but remained statistically significant, indicating that the differences in PGSI scores between participants from ethnic minority backgrounds and participants from White backgrounds are not fully explained by this measure of gambling involvement (see the following Table 1 and Table 8 in the ethnic group topic report findings). These models show that the higher PGSI scores seen in participants from ethnic minority backgrounds were only partially explained by differences in socio-economic and demographic characteristics and participation across 21 distinct gambling activities.
Table 1: The unadjusted and adjusted model results for the association between ethnic group and PGSI score
| Ethnic group | Incidence rate ratio | Lower 95 percent confidence interval | Upper 95 percent confidence interval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model 1: unadjusted | |||
| Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups | 3.17 | 2.55 | 3.95 |
| Asian groups | 3.20 | 2.73 | 3.76 |
| Black groups | 3.28 | 2.45 | 4.40 |
| Other ethnic groups | 4.66 | 3.29 | 6.59 |
| Model 2: Adjusted for socio-economic and demographic characteristics | |||
| Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups | 2.06 | 1.62 | 2.62 |
| Asian groups | 2.28 | 1.94 | 2.68 |
| Black groups | 2.12 | 1.57 | 2.85 |
| Other ethnic groups | 3.57 | 2.24 | 5.69 |
| Model 3: Adjusted for socio-economic, demographic characteristics and participation across 21 distinct gambling activities | |||
| Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups | 1.75 | 1.33 | 2.30 |
| Asian groups | 2.17 | 1.84 | 2.55 |
| Black groups | 1.51 | 1.18 | 1.93 |
| Other ethnic groups | 2.43 | 1.56 | 3.76 |
How does gambling behaviour vary among people from different ethnic backgrounds? Next section
How does the experience of severe adverse and other potential adverse consequences from gambling vary among those from different ethnic groups?
Last updated: 27 October 2026
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