Report
Understanding and measuring consumer trust in the gambling industry - Full technical report
The understanding and measuring consumer trust in the gambling industry full technical report from The Gambling Commission.
Cognitive testing
A final step taken to refine the selected list of statements was cognitive testing (sense checking) with a range of people who gamble, and with four members from the Gambling Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP). Meetings also took place with internal stakeholders to ensure there was clear understanding of the purpose of these statements and what they were intended to capture.
The purpose of this step was to ensure that the wording of the statements selected was clearly comprehended by the key target audience, broadly reflective of the gambling population that will be asked these questions in the GSGB survey. This informed prioritisation of the final statements selected. Full details of the objectives of cognitive testing can be found in the appendices.
The sample frame for the cognitive testing (as shown in Appendix E) was developed to ensure a range of views across those who gamble, including National Lottery only players who were not the initial focus of the online survey.
Cognitive testing participants were shown each of the 10 shortlisted statements, each in turn. Participants were asked to give feedback on these statements. Crucially, participants were not asked how they would answer them or their views, but the clarity of the wording, comprehension and language appropriateness for the audience.
For example, the cognitive testing helped to uncover that there was a wide range of interpretation of the word “manipulation” in the statement “Gambling companies are free from corruption and manipulation” by participants. Therefore, the final statement did not include the word “manipulation”.
Similarly, the cognitive testing helped to understand optimal sentence structure to ensure comprehension of statements. The statement “Effective measures are in place to protect young and vulnerable people when gambling” was deemed to be confusing because of the conflation with young and vulnerable people as 1 group, rather than 2 distinct groups. Therefore, the statement was amended slightly to “Effective measures are in place to protect young, and other vulnerable, people when gambling.” This subtle change helped to provide clarity on the final selected statement.
Results from the cognitive phase were analysed thematically, and a workshop took place to make final minor amendments to the statements informed by participants recommendations.
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Final statement selection
Last updated: 23 July 2026
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