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Report

Investigating the relationship between reasons for gambling and different gambling activities

This short report explores the reasons people give for taking part in gambling and how they relate to different gambling activities.

Published
30 January 2025

Last updated
30 January 2025 - Changes

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  1. Contents
  2. Introduction

Introduction

In July 2024, the Gambling Commission published the first annual report from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) based on data collected in 2023. Further details about the survey methodology including its strengths and limitations are provided in the GSGB Technical report. The annual report presented figures relating to the reasons people gave for participating in gambling, showing how they varied by age and sex. This latest report provides additional insight into the reasons people give for taking part in gambling and explores how those reasons relate to different gambling activities. A better understanding of the association between motivation and activities is critical in understanding both general gambling behaviour as well as its consequences.

Previous research has identified some associations between motivations for gambling and type of gambling activity. Canale et al (opens in new tab) used data from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) to show participants who gambled both online and in person in the past year gave different reasons for gambling than participants who only gambled in person, with the former group more likely to cite reasons relating to recreation, enhancement and money. Later research by Sundqvist et al (opens in new tab) (2016) found that social reasons for gambling were more strongly associated with casino games and sports betting, whilst coping reasons more strongly linked to Electronic Gaming Machines. The first of these studies focused only on broad groupings and the second used a more limited range of gambling activities than exists in the GSGB data. The large size of the GSGB data allows these associations to be investigated in more detail, specifically with respect to differences in the motivation behind online and in person variants of the same activity.

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Reasons for gambling - Definitions Next section
Reasons for gambling - The Reasons for Gambling questionnaire
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