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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.

Published
27 October 2026

Last updated
27 October 2026 - Changes

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  1. Contents
  2. Introduction

Introduction

Prior studies have shown that people from different ethnic minority backgrounds experience greater severity of gambling problems. For example, the British Gambling Prevalence Survey in 2010 (opens in new tab) found those from Black backgrounds were more likely to experience problem gambling despite gambling less overall.

More recently, the Gambling Commission's report Exploring demographic differences in adverse consequences from gambling found increased harm among participants from ethnic minority backgrounds, even at low levels of Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). However, as with much prior research in this area, low base sizes meant participants from ethnic minority backgrounds had to be grouped within a single category, likely masking meaningful differences between groups. The consistent methodology used by the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), and the large number of people interviewed each year, now allows data to be pooled across Years 1 to 3 and explore gambling behaviours among individual ethnic groups for the first time, delivering on this planned future work.

This report combines data from the GSGB 2023, 2024 and 2025 to examine: 

  • the prevalence of gambling among people from different ethnic groups (including engagement in specific activities, the number of activities undertaken and gambling frequency) 
  • PGSI scores among those from different ethnic groups 
  • the experience of severe adverse and other potential adverse consequences from gambling among those from different ethnic groups 
  • the use of help and support services for gambling among those from different ethnic groups. 
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