Report
Gambling participation in 2019: behaviour, awareness and attitudes
A report providing an overview of consumer gambling behaviour in Great Britain in 2019
Contents
- Executive summary
- Preface
- Gambling participation
- Problem and at-risk gambling
- Online gambling behaviour
- Consumer analysis
- Self-exclusion and gambling management tools
- Information to players
- Terms and conditions
- Complaints
- Social media and advertising
- Social gaming
- Perceptions and attitudes
- Appendix – methodology
In-play betting
This section reports data on online gambling behaviour in the year to December 2019, using data collected via the Commission’s quarterly online survey conducted by Populus. Surveys are conducted with people in Great Britain aged 18+. The core questions in the survey ask online gamblers about how and where they gamble online.
In-play or live betting occurs while an event is actually taking place, for example, placing a bet on a horse race while the race is being run, or on a football match whilst it is being played. This form of betting takes place mainly, but not exclusively, on sporting events. It is predominantly an online activity with bets being made via the internet using either a betting exchange or a traditional bookmaker’s website, but it can also take place in betting shops or over the phone. All respondents who have gambled online in the past four weeks are asked whether they have bet in-play.
Just over one fifth (21%) of online gamblers had bet in-play during the last four weeks. Whilst participation in in-play betting overall has remained statistically stable, decreases in in-play participation have occurred among the 25-34 age group (30%; an 8 percentage point decrease from 2018).
Figure 15: Online gamblers’ past four week in-play betting by gender and age (Online Tracker; n=1,814)
| Year to December 2015 | Year to December 2016 | Year to December 2017 | Year to December 2018 | Year to December 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All respondents | 25% | 26% | 26% | 23% | 21% |
| Males | 32% | 34% | 36% | 31% | 30% |
| Females | 15% | 16% | 14% | 12% | 11% |
| 16 to 24 | 38% | 45% | 41% | 40% | 37% |
| 25 to 34 | 41% | 40% | 41% | 38% | 30% |
| 35 to 44 | 31% | 35% | 34% | 27% | 29% |
| 45 to 54 | 19% | 20% | 22% | 19% | 19% |
| 55 to 64 | 9% | 9% | 14% | 12% | 9% |
| 65 and over | 4% | 6% | 4% | 6% | 5% |
Location of online gambling Next section
Number of accounts
Last updated: 23 September 2024
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