Report
Investigating the coherence and comparability of estimates from the GSGB with industry data from the Bingo Association
This report investigates the coherence and comparability of estimates from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) with industry data from the Bingo Association
What we did to create a closer comparison
To enable a closer comparison between the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and the Bingo Association data, we worked under the assumption that any differences could be attributed to the Bingo Association primarily collecting data from traditional bingo clubs, while the GSGB captures a broader range of in-person bingo activity.
To address this, we adapted our data collection approach. Specifically, we introduced a new question in the GSGB survey asking those respondents who said they had played bingo in a venue in the past 4 weeks, where they had played. The response options included:
- bingo club (for example, Buzz Bingo, formerly Gala, Mecca, Club 3000, Castle Bingo)
- working men’s club or social club
- holiday park (for example, Butlins, Park Resort, Parkdean resorts)
- bingo themed social event (not in a bingo club) for example, Bongo’s Bingo
- a fundraising event (for example, community centre, village hall, school event)
- bar or pub
- workplace or corporate event
- holiday resort or hotel abroad
- in an arcade including high street and seaside arcades
- other.
By doing this, we were able to identify the proportion of respondents who had played bingo in traditional bingo clubs in the past 4 weeks, allowing us to make a closer comparison with the Bingo Association’s data.
What did the data show when we created a closer comparison?
With the addition of a new question in the GSGB, respondents were asked where they had played bingo in the past 4 weeks. With 3 waves of data now available to us, the GSGB estimated that 1.2 percent of adults had played at a traditional bingo club in the past 4 weeks, followed by participation at a working men’s club (0.6 percent) and at a bingo themed social event (0.4 percent) as shown in Figure 1. The figure for participation at a traditional bingo club (1.2 percent) now more closely aligned with the data collected by the Bingo Association.
Figure 1: Proportion of adults who played bingo at the following venue(s) in the past 4 weeks (GSGB 2025, Waves 1 to 3)
| Bingo venue | Proportion of adults playing at the bingo venue in the past 4 weeks (percentage) |
|---|---|
| Bingo club (for example, Buzz Bingo, formerly Gala, Mecca, Club 3000, Castle Bingo) | 1.2% |
| Working men’s club or social club | 0.6% |
| Bingo themed social event (not in a bingo club) for example, Bongo’s Bingo | 0.4% |
| Bar or Pub | 0.4% |
| At a fundraising event (for example, community centre, village hall, school event) | 0.4% |
| Holiday park (for example Butlins, Park Resort, Parkdean resorts) | 0.3% |
| Holiday resort or hotel abroad | 0.2% |
| Other | 0.1% |
| In an arcade including high street and seaside arcades | 0.1% |
Fieldwork for GSGB 2025, Waves 1 to 3, took place between January to October 2025, where this question was asked only online.
Base size approximately: 10,323
Of course the places where people play bingo are not mutually exclusive. Findings show that of those who had played bingo in a traditional bingo club in the past 4 weeks (base size 133), 26 percent had also played bingo somewhere else during the same timeframe.
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Last updated: 9 April 2026
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