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Report

Phase 4: Illegal Gambling Index – Technical Report

The Gambling Commission’s technical report detailing the development of the Illegal Gambling Index.

Published
5 November 2026

Last updated
5 November 2026 - Changes

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Contents

Flexing the index for the GSGB

This section describes the methodology for maintaining and updating the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) Index, including the incorporation of new statements, the removal of existing statements, and revisions to statement strength ratings.

An example of how a statement being upgraded in its strength rating is shown in the following section (the bold figures in the tables signify differences to the original Index). The multiplication factor is scaled down slightly to 5.26 as to reflect the renewed strength of the ‘Not on Gamstop’ code brings the total initial highest score to 19, with 100 over 19, equalling the new multiplication factor of 5.26.

Table 3. Upgraded strength ratings given to indicators

Strength rating given to indicators
Strength of indicator A1. Intention A3. Not on Gamstop B1_A. VPN usage B1_B. Paying using cryptocurrency B1_C. Paying using a credit card B1_D. Paying using NFTs B1_E. Avoiding verification B1_F. Cancelling a withdrawal
Strength of indicator Near certain Near certain Strong Strong Weaker Strong Near certain Near certain
Initial rating 3 3 2 2 1 2 3 3
Multiplication factor 5.26 5.26 5.26 5.26 5.26 5.26 5.26 5.26
In the last 4 weeks 15.78 15.78 10.52 10.52 5.26 10.52 15.78 15.78
In the last 12 months 7.89 7.89 5.26 5.26 2.63 5.26 7.89 7.89
More than 12 months ago 3.94 3.94 2.63 2.63 1.32 2.63 3.94 3.94
Never 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

An example of how you might flex the index to incorporate a new statement, with a ‘near certain’ strength rating, is below. The multiplication factor to 100 is scaled down to 4.55 reflect the now 9 possible indicators feeding in, with a total initial highest score of 22.

Table 4. Index calculations for new indicators

Table 4. Index calculations for new indicators
Strength of indicator A1. Intention A3S. Not on Gamstop New indictator B1_A. VPN usage B1_B. Paying using cryptocurrency B1_C. Paying using a credit card B1_D. Paying using NFTs B1_E. Avoiding verification B1_F. Cancelling a withdrawal
Strength of indicator Near certain Near certain Near certain Strong Strong Weaker Strong Near certain Near certain
Initial rating 3 3 3 2 2 1 2 3 3
Multiplication factor 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55 4.55
In the last 4 weeks 13.65 13.65 13.65 9.10 9.10 4.55 9.10 13.65 13.65
In the last 12 months 6.83 6.83 6.83 4.55 4.55 2.23 4.55 6.83 6.83
More than 12 months ago 3.42 3.42 3.42 2.27 2.27 1.12 2.27 3.42 3.42
Never 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

And finally, an example of how you might flex the index if one of the ingoing statements is dropped. Here, we’ve dropped the ‘intention’ input from the index calculation. The multiplication factor to 100 is scaled up to 6.25 to reflect the now 7 indicators feeding into the index, with a total initial highest score of 16.

Table 5. Index calculations when removing indicators

Strength rating given to indicators
Strength of indicator A3S. Not on Gamstop B1_A. VPN usage B1_B. Paying using cryptocurrency B1_C. Paying using a credit card B1_D. Paying using NFTs B1_E. Avoiding verification B1_F. Cancelling a withdrawal
Strength of indicator Near certain Strong Strong Weaker Strong Near certain Near certain
Initial rating 3 2 2 1 2 3 3
Multiplication factor 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25 6.25
In the last 4 weeks 18.75 12.5 12.5 6.25 12.5 18.75 18.75
In the last 12 months 9.38 6.25 6.25 3.13 6.25 9.38 9.38
More than 12 months ago 4.69 3.13 3.13 1.57 3.13 4.69 4.69
Never 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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