Report
Illegal online gambling - Phase 2: Identifying indicators of consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites
The Gambling Commission's report on the second phase of the Consumer Voice illegal gambling project.
Contents
Appendix 2 - Sample questionnaire
Survey date: 18-23 December
Methodology: ONLINE
Survey length: 15-minute survey
Sample: 2,000 individuals who gamble online (activity in the last 4 weeks) excluding those who only play The National Lottery
Screener, demographics and gambling behaviours
(ASK ALL)
S1. Gender
How do you identify?
SINGLECODE
- Man
- Woman
- Non-binary
- Prefer to use own term (specify)
- Prefer not to say.
S2. Age
Please enter your age in the box
WRITE IN SCREEN OUT: S2 less than 18
(ASK ALL)
S3. Ethnicity
To which of the following ethnic groups do you consider you belong? SINGLECODE – CODES AS PER YDS LIST
(ASK ALL) S4. SEG
The Chief Income Earner is the person with the largest income, whether from employment, pensions, state benefits, investments or any other source. If two or more related people in the household have equal income, please think of this question with the oldest in mind. The Chief Income Earner can be of either sex, with no preference to either.
CODES AS PER YDS USUAL PRACTICE
(ASK ALL)
S5. Socio-grader
Please input the first 3 or 4 letters of the occupation of your household's Chief Income Earner below and click 'search'.
SINGLECODE
INPUT BOX
(ASK ALL)
S6. Gambling activity
SHOW INTRO ON SEPARATE SCREEN
For the next series of questions, we’d like you to think about gambling activities; by gambling we mean spending money on games of chance where you can win money.
When, if ever, have you spent money on the following activities?
By ‘online’, we strictly mean ‘websites’, rather than gambling apps.
SINGLE CODE, RANDOMISE ROWS, REVEAL IN TURN (TREAT ROWS c-f AS A BLOCK)
| 1. In the last 7 days | 2. In the last 4 weeks | 3. In the last 3 months | 4. In the last 12 months | 5. More than 12 months ago | 6. Never spent money on this | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. Online fruit, slot, or virtual gaming | ||||||
| b. Online bingo | ||||||
| c. Online betting on horse or dog races, including virtual races | ||||||
| d. Online betting on football | ||||||
| e. Online betting on other sports, including virtual and e-sports | ||||||
| f. Online betting on events (e.g. political, entertainment, topical, current affairs, novelty) | ||||||
| g. Online roulette, card/dice games, poker, or instant win games | ||||||
| h. Another form of online gambling [ANCHOR] |
SCREENOUT: IF ALL FROM S6_X = 3-6, THANK AND CLOSE
ASK ALL WHO HAVE GAMBLED IN L4W
S6b. Gambling frequency
Thinking about all the activities you’ve spent money on in the past 4 weeks, how often have you spent money on them?
SINGLECODE, COLUMNS, REVEAL ROWS IN TURN.
| 1. Daily | 2. A few times a week | 3. At least once a week | 4. A few times in the last 4 weeks | 5. Once in the last 4 weeks | 6. Can’t remember | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PULL THROUGH CODES IF S6_X = 1-2 |
(ASK ALL) S7. PGSI
And thinking about the last 12 months…
SINGLECODE, DO NOT RANDOMISE
| 1. Almost always | 2. Most of the time | 3. Sometimes | 4. Never | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. Have you bet more than you could really afford to lose? | ||||
| b. Have you needed to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same feeling of excitement? | ||||
| c. When you gambled, did you go back another day to try to win back the money you lost? | ||||
| d. Have you borrowed money or sold anything to get money to gamble? | ||||
| e. Have you felt that you might have a problem with gambling? | ||||
| f. Has gambling caused you any health problems, including stress or anxiety? | ||||
| g. Have people criticized your betting or told you that you had a gambling problem, regardless of whether or not you thought it was true? | ||||
| h. Has your gambling caused any financial problems for you or your household? | ||||
| i. Have you felt guilty about the way you gamble or what happens when you gamble? |
(ASK ALL)
S8. Gambling accounts
How many active online gambling accounts do you currently have, with any gambling company?
By ‘active’ we mean accounts that you have used at least once to gamble or place a bet on any online activity in the last 12 months. Please exclude any accounts you have set up exclusively to make use of a marketing or bonus offer (e.g. free bets, free spins, welcome bonus etc.).
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- More than 20
- Don’t know
(ASK ALL)
A5. Motivations When choosing a website to gamble with in the last 4 weeks, which of the following are factors in your decision? From the following list, please rank a maximum of five factors you consider to be most key to your decision-making.
MULTICODE, RANDOMISE. CAP RESPONSES AT FIVE. USE RANKING DESIGN.
- Avoiding GAMSTOP
- Avoiding Gamban
- Avoiding bank gambling blocks
- Avoiding stake and/or spend limits
- Avoiding bans and/or account restrictions placed on me by other gambling companies
- Easy / quick sign-up process
- Accessing games/products not available in Great Britain
- Finding websites that do not require me to verify my age/identity before allowing me to gamble
- To be able to use the best offers (including sign up offers, bonuses, free spins, free bets, etc.)
- To have fun while gambling
- To pay with different methods than usual (e.g. credit card, cryptocurrency, NFTs)
- Finding the best odds
- High returns, i.e., high Return To Player (RTP) percentages
- Playing/discovering new games that I haven’t played before
- Knowing my personal information and/or data is secure
- Quick and easy withdrawals
- Gambling with websites that are well-known
- Having access to safer gambling tools e.g. deposit limits
- Gambling with websites that are licensed in Great Britain
- Knowing my funds are protected
- Other (please specify) [ANCHOR]
- None of the above [EXCLUSIVE, ANCHOR]
(ASK ALL)
S9. Rules view Where would you say you sit on the scale below?
Here, we mean rules put in place for gambling companies that relate to: terms and conditions of offers, maximum stake sizes and prize amounts, changes to game features, and so on. SINGLE CODE – SCALE
- There should be fewer rules in place on gambling
- Rules on gambling in Great Britain are currently at an appropriate level
- There should be more rules in place on gambling
- Don’t know [ANCHOR]
(ASK ALL)
S10. Care about licensing When choosing which website(s) to gamble with, how important is it to you whether or not they have obtained the following licence(s) to operate from a gambling regulator? Gambling websites need to get a licence from each country's gambling regulator in order to operate there. The Gambling Commission is the regulator for Great Britain.
SINGLE CODE PER ROW, REVERSE COLUMN ORDER 50/50, DO NOT RANDOMISE
| 1. Not at all important | 2. Not very important | 3. Somewhat important | 4. Very Important | 5. Don’t know [ANCHOR] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. A licence to operate in Great Britain, specifically | |||||
| b. A licence to operate somewhere else (i.e. in another country) |
Intentional unlicensed usage
(ASK ALL)
A1. Intentional unlicensed usage
SHOW INTRO TEXT ON SEPARATE SCREEN WITH FIVE SECOND DELAY
In Great Britain, gambling websites are regulated by the Gambling Commission. As the regulator, the Commission provides licences to companies allowing them to operate in Britain if they meet a set of rules and requirements.
Sometimes, however, there are some gambling companies that operate gambling websites in Great Britain without having a licence from the Commission. These websites may have a licence to operate in a different country, or not have one at all, from any country.
THEN QUESTION ON NEXT PAGE
Have you intentionally gambled on a gambling website that did not have a licence to operate in Great Britain?
We want to assure you that the information you provide in this survey is completely confidential, and that individuals who gamble with unlicensed websites are not engaging in illegal activity.
SINGLECODE
- Yes, in the last 4 weeks
- Yes, in the last 12 months
- Yes, ever
- No, never
- Don’t know
- Prefer not to say
ASK IF THINKS HAS USED UNLICENSED IN L4W (A1 = 1)
A2. Website check
Which gambling website(s) have you used in the last 4 weeks that you believe do not have a licence from the Gambling Commission?
Everything you tell us is completely confidential, we’ll only use this information to check the licensing status of these companies for research purposes.
Please enter your answers in the boxes below. You do not need to fill all the boxes to go to the next question.
WRITE-IN, FIVES BOXES WITH RESPONDENTS ALLOWED TO PASS WITHOUT FILLING ALL
99. Prefer not to say
(ASK ALL)
A3. GAMSTOP
Have you ever signed up to GAMSTOP, an online tool that restricts access to gambling websites based on personal details you share?
This tool is sometimes called ‘self-exclusion’ and applies across all licensed gambling websites.
SINGLECODE
- Yes, I am currently signed up
- Yes, I have signed up in the past
- No
- Don’t know
ASK ALL WHO SELF EXCLUDE (A3 = 1-2)
A4. GAMSTOP effectiveness
[A3 = 1: Does; A3 = 2; Did] GAMSTOP entirely prevent you from using gambling websites with your own account?
SINGLECODE
- Yes, I [A3 = 1: have not gambled; A3 = 2: did not gamble] on websites on my own account while signed up
- No, I still [A3 = 1: have a way; A3 = 2: found a way] to gamble on websites on my own account while signed up
- Don’t know
Indicators
(ASK ALL)
B1. Deliberate behaviours
Have you ever…
SINGLECODE COLUMNS, RANDOMISE ROWS
| 1. Yes, in the past 4 weeks | 2. Yes, in the past 12 months | 3. Yes, ever | 4. No, never | 5. Don’t know | 6. Prefer not to say | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a. Used a VPN specifically to access a gambling website that was not otherwise available in Great Britain | ||||||
| b. Deposited cryptocurrency (e.g. Bitcoin) to gamble on a website | ||||||
| c. Deposited money on a gambling website using a credit card | ||||||
| d. Deposited NFTs / virtual assets to gamble on a website | ||||||
| e. Signed up to a gambling website because I knew I wouldn’t need to verify my age or identity | ||||||
| f. Cancelled a withdrawal before it reached my bank/wallet on a gambling website | ||||||
| g. Signed up to a gambling website using someone else’s personal information and/or payment details | ||||||
| h. Gambled online using a foreign currency (not GBP) | ||||||
| i. Been unable to close an account with a gambling website |
| LICENSING DUMMY VARIABLE (LICDUM) for survey routing | |
|---|---|
| 1. NET: Unlicensed for routing | A1 = 1-3 or any from B1_a-g = 1-3 |
| 2. NET: Licensed only for routing | All not in the above criteria |
| 3. Self-reported unlicensed | A1 = 1-3 |
| 4. Strong indicators of unlicensed | Any from B1_a-g = 1-3 |
Unlicensed module
ASK LICDUM = 1
C1. Intro to focus
DECAPITALISE FIRST LETTER IN ITERATION PULLED THROUGH TO QUESTION TEXT. DON’T ALLOW SKIP TO NEXT SCREEN FOR 10 SECONDS
You [LICDUM = 3: said; LICDUM = 4; indicated] previously that you [LICDUM = 3: have; LICDUM = 4; may have] gambled on a gambling website that did not have a licence to operate in Great Britain. Some of these websites may only be licensed in other countries, and some websites may not hold a licence to operate anywhere.
For the rest of the survey, we’d like you to focus your answers on the websites you were considering in your previous answers, i.e. those websites that were likely not licensed to operate in Great Britain by the British Gambling Commission. [LICDUM = 4: These are the websites where you [PULL THROUGH RANDOM RESPONSE WHERE B1_a-g = 1-3; IF MORE THAN ONE FROM B1_a-g = 1-3; among other things.]
These websites will be referred to as ‘unlicensed’ for the rest of the survey. As a reminder, everything you tell us in this survey is completely confidential.
ASK LICDUM = 4
C2. Licensing awareness
At the time, were you aware that the website(s) you used was likely not licensed by the Gambling Commission?
SINGLECODE
- Yes
- No
- Don’t know
- Prefer not to say
ASK LICDUM = 1
C2b. Current balance
Thinking about your gambling in the last 4 weeks, which of the following statements best reflects your gambling activity?
SINGLECODE
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I only used licensed websites | I mainly used licensed websites | I used roughly an equal mix of licensed and unlicensed websites | I mainly used unlicensed websites | I only used unlicensed websites | Don’t know | Prefer not to say |
ASK LICDUM = 1 AND C2B = 2-4, 6
C2c. Current spend balance
Thinking about your gambling in the last 4 weeks, which of the following statements best reflects your spend on gambling?
This includes only your deposit onto gambling websites, rather than any withdrawals you may have made.
SINGLECODE. AUTOCODE C2B = 1 TO C2C = 1, AUTOCODE C2B = 5 TO C2C = 3.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I spent more money on licensed websites | I spent roughly an equal amount of money on licensed and unlicensed websites | I spent more money on unlicensed websites | Don’t know | Prefer not to say |
ASK LICDUM = 1
C3. Product
When you have used unlicensed websites in the last 4 weeks, what types of gambling activities do you usually take part in?
(TREAT ROWS 3-6 AS A BLOCK)
(TREAT ROWS 8 to 11 AS A BLOCK)
MULTICODE
- Online fruit, slot, or virtual gaming
- Online bingo
- Online betting on horse or dog races, including virtual races
- Online betting on football
- Online betting on other sports
- Online betting on virtual and e-sports
- Online betting on events (e.g. political, entertainment, topical, current affairs, novelty)
- Online roulette
- Online card/dice games
- Online poker
- Online instant win games
- Crypto casinos
- Another form of online gambling (please specify) [ANCHOR]
- None of the above in the past 4 weeks [EXCLUSIVE, ANCHOR]
- Prefer not to say [EXCLUSIVE, ANCHOR]
ASK IF YES TO ONLINE FRUIT,SLOT, OR VIRTUAL GAMING (C3 = 1)
C4. Product specifics
When you have used unlicensed websites, have you used any of the following?
MULTICODE
- Games that offer an Autoplay feature (i.e. allow you to play multiple spins without confirming each one separately)
- Games that offer features such as turbo, quick spin and slam stops
- None of the above [EXCLUSIVE, ANCHOR]
ASK IF LICDUM = 1
C5. Routes
Thinking now of the unlicensed website(s) you have gambled with in the last 4 weeks, how did you become aware of them? MULTICODE, RANDOMISE, BATCH 3-7
- I have gambled with them before [ANCHOR]
- Via an influencer (Twitch streamers, YouTubers, celebrities, former sportspeople, etc.)
- Telegram
- Via an affiliate website
[POP-OUT ON HOVER: Affiliate websites do not offer gambling themselves, but often promote lists of preferred gambling websites based on best odds and offers, customer reviews, and key features]
- They were endorsed on a gambling forum
- Through word of mouth
- Via a search engine
- The gambling company sponsors a football team I watched
- Direct marketing (e.g. emails or texts) from the gambling company
- Another way (please specify) [ANCHOR]
- Can’t remember [EXCLUSIVE, ANCHOR]
Appendix 1 - Sample profile
Last updated: 18 September 2025
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