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 does gambling behaviour vary among people from different ethnic backgrounds?
This section references information that can be found in the ethnic group topic report findings excel files that accompany this report.
Gambling participation by ethnic group
Gambling participation varied significantly across ethnic groups. Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks was highest among participants from White backgrounds (50.3%) and lowest among those from Other ethnic backgrounds (28.6%), with rates of 44.1% among those from Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds, 36.1% among those from Black backgrounds and 31.0% among those from Asian backgrounds as shown in Figure 1. This pattern was broadly similar for men and women, with male participation exceeding female participation within most ethnic groups, except for those from Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds where participation was similar among men (43.9%) and women (44.3%) (as shown in Table 1 in the ethnic group topic report findings).
However, a different pattern was observed when looking at gambling on things other than lottery draws alone. Past 4-week participation in non-lottery draw activities was highest among those from Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds (30.9%) and the difference between participation rates for White backgrounds and other ethnic groups was not as pronounced as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks, by ethnic group (percentage)
| Ethnic group | Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks | Gambling participation in the past 4 weeks excluding lottery draw only players |
|---|---|---|
| White | 50.3 | 28.4 |
| Mixed and/or Multiple | 44.1 | 30.9 |
| Asian | 31.0 | 19.1 |
| Black | 36.1 | 24.8 |
| Other | 28.6 | 21.9 |
Base: All productive individuals excluding participants who had only played National Lottery draw-based or other charity lottery-draw based games. Participants within each ethnic group (unweighted): White groups = 43,809; Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups = 996; Asian groups = 2,818; Black groups = 862; Other ethnic groups = 337.
Gambling participation: number of activities
Despite being less likely to gamble overall, participants from Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds were more likely to gamble on three or more activities (18.5%) than all the other groups. This was followed by those from Black backgrounds (14.9%) and those from White backgrounds (13.3%). Participants from Asian backgrounds were the least likely to take part in three or more gambling activities in the past four weeks, irrespective of whether lottery draws were included or excluded as shown in Figure 2 (and as shown in Table 2 in the ethnic group topic report findings).
Figure 2: Participants gambling on 3 or more activities in the past 4 weeks, by ethnic group (percentage)
| Ethnic group | Gambling participation on 3 or more activities in the past 4 weeks | Gambling participation on 3 or more activities excluding lottery draw only players |
|---|---|---|
| White | 13.3 | 13.5 |
| Mixed and/or Multiple | 18.5 | 18.8 |
| Asian | 9.3 | 9.4 |
| Black | 14.9 | 15.1 |
| Other | 11.2 | 11.3 |
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 (unweighted): White groups = 44,413; Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups = 1,006; Asian groups = 2,840; Black groups = 875; Other ethnic groups = 340.
Gambling participation: individual activities
Table 3 in the ethnic group topic report findings shows whether participation in individual gambling activities varied by ethnic group. The majority of individual activities significantly varied by ethnic group (p-values from less than .001 to .03) (except other charity lottery in-person p=0.21, and fruit and/or slot machines in-person p=0.05).
A clear pattern emerged when comparing specific individual activities. For 2 activities, National Lottery draws played online, and other charity lottery draws played online, participants from all 4 ethnic minority backgrounds had lower participation than among those from White backgrounds (as shown in Table 3 in the ethnic group topic report findings).
For most other activities, participants from White backgrounds were less likely to participate than those from other groups. This was with the exception of fruit and/or slots games played online, bingo either online or in-person, betting on sports and/or racing events online and National Lottery scratchcards, where participation rates were lowest among those from Asian backgrounds as shown in Figure 3. In some cases, the gap was striking: betting on outcomes of events in-person was around five times more common among participants from Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic backgrounds than those from White backgrounds (4.4% versus 0.9%), and betting on outcomes of events online was around 4 times more common among participants from Black backgrounds than those from White backgrounds (5.6% versus 1.5%). The 2 activities that showed no meaningful differences between ethnic groups were other charity lottery draws played in-person, and fruit and/or slot machines played in-person. Participation rates for these activities were similar across all groups.
Figure 3: Participation in selected gambling activities in the past 4 weeks, by ethnic group (percentage)
| Activity | White groups | Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups | Asian groups | Black groups | Other ethnic groups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Lottery scratchcards | 11.7 | 14.7 | 8.6 | 11.2 | 9.4 |
| Betting sports and/or racing (online) | 9.0 | 10.0 | 4.9 | 11.5 | 6.5 |
| Betting on outcomes (online) | 1.5 | 4.8 | 2.7 | 5.6 | 4.9 |
| Betting on outcomes (in-person) | 0.9 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
| Bingo (online) | 2.3 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 3.3 | 5.0 |
| Bingo (in-person) | 3.4 | 4.3 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Fruit and/or slot games (online) | 3.2 | 6.6 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 4.9 |
Base: All productive individuals. Participants within each ethnic group (unweighted: White groups = 43,785; Mixed and/or Multiple ethnic groups = 994; Asian groups = 2,818; Black groups = 857; Other ethnic groups = 336.
Next sectionHow do Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores vary by ethnic group?
Last updated: 27 October 2026
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