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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.

Published
23 July 2026

Last updated
23 July 2026 - Changes

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Contents

Qualitative phase

Using the themes identified in the desk research and LEAP session, Yonder designed a qualitative discussion guide and undertook research in the form of focus groups to further explore the themes and to assist the development of broad ‘trust statements’ for the quantitative phase.

Yonder moderated 4 face-to-face focus groups, each 2 hours long. 6 participants took part in each group, amounting to a total of 24. Focus groups took place in 2 regions in England: London and Birmingham. The sample frame was designed to capture a broad range of views across those who gamble and sociodemographic characteristics. This included a range of participant age, gambling settings, gambling frequency, and products used:

  • group 1 consisted of younger adults (aged 18 to 30 years) who gamble, with a preference for online gambling, once a week or more often
  • group 2 was made up of adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble, with a mix of online and in-person gambling, once a week or more often
  • group 3 consisted of adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble, with a preference for in-person gambling, once a week or more often
  • group 4 consisted of adults (aged 31 to 65 years) who gamble more ‘casually’ with lesser frequency and lower minimum deposit and/or stake spend.

The sample was also monitored to ensure a spread of sociodemographic representation:

  • 2 to 3 females, 4 to 5 males per group
  • 1 to 2 ethnic minority participants per group
  • spread of social grade category per group.

Attitudinal, behavioural and awareness metrics were also monitored, including:

  • spread of levels of awareness of the Gambling Commission; excluding those who would class themselves as ‘very knowledgeable’ on the Gambling Commission
  • the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) was noted in recruitment

The focus groups explored thematic drivers of trust, through themes identified by the desk research and LEAP discussions in the scoping phase as well as some stimulus material designed to prompt further insight around the issues identified (for example, news stories relating to gambling regulation).

Following the qualitative focus groups, an interim report was delivered outlining the key findings, with a particular focus on statements to explore for quantitative assessment.

In order to inform the development of specific statements for quantitative assessment, a workshop was held to run through the interim report, focusing on the specific codeframe developed that captured the most pertinent themes. The qualitative phase made several recommendations on key themes to test within the survey, relating to the importance of regulation, fairness of game play, operator marketing activity and advertising, regulation, and industry reputation. More detail on the qualitative findings can be found in the published narrative report.

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Statement development
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