Report
Understanding the impact of increased cost of living on gambling behaviour - Final report
Gambling Commission's research report with Yonder into the behaviours and motivations of gamblers during the current period of high cost of living in Great Britain.
Contents
- Introduction
- Methodology
- How to read this report
- Summary of findings
- Personal finances and cost of living
- Financial comfort and concerns around cost of living
- Relationship with gambling
- Impact of cost of living on gambling behaviours
- Gambling has stayed the same
- Gambling because it’s fun but will make cutbacks if needed
- Gambling is an inherent part of life
- Change in gambling behaviour
- The number of occasions on which you have spent money on these gambling activities
- The amount of money spent on these gambling activities
- The amount of time spent gambling on these activities
- Typical stakes
- Motivations for gambling
- Conclusions
- Appendix A - Gambling activities
- Appendix B - Reading longitudinal tables
- Appendix C - Motivations for gambling – subgroup analysis by statement
Financial comfort and concerns around cost of living
As established in the previous report of quantitative findings, a majority of all respondents had voiced broad concerns about their financial comfort throughout the tracked higher cost of living period. Between 60 percent to 65 percent of respondents between the start and end of tracking agreed that they ‘had looked at ways to make their income go further’.
Further to this, only a quarter (25 percent, remaining stable from waves 1 to 3) said ‘they were not concerned about how the cost of living was impacting themselves or their families’. However, nearly half of respondents (between 46 percent and 47 percent across waves) also reported feeling that they were just about managing but feel confident that they will be okay.
Early sub-group analysis showed that, while directionally in line with all respondents, online gamblers and those scoring 8 or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) were more likely to somewhat agree or strongly agree that they ‘had looked at ways to make their income go further’, were ‘concerned about their ability to buy everything they need for themselves or their family’, and ‘have needed to consider, or have found, additional ways to supplement their income’. This suggests that online gamblers and those scoring 8 and above on the PGSI were more likely to have felt a greater impact of increased cost of living on their financial security compared to the total.
“I have been feeling anxious about the cost of energy and petrol prices. There’s just no way of getting anything cheaper so I’m trying to cut back on what I do use.” Male, increased PGSI score.
Further sub-group analysis has revealed several other key groups who are most likely to agree with the statements that indicate concern and financial discomfort in light of the rise in cost of living. These statements include:
- "I am concerned about my ability to buy everything I need for myself and/or my family"
- "At the moment I am finding it difficult to manage financially"
- "I have needed to consider, or have found, additional ways to supplement my income"
- "I have looked at ways I can make my income go further".
Amongst the most likely to agree with these statements are:
- those aged between 25 to 54 years
- women
- those in the DE socio-economic grade
- those with a lower household income (between £7,000 to £14,000 a year)
- those with a long-standing condition or disability
- people with children aged 18 years or under
- households with 3 or more people
- both homeowners with a mortgage
- those currently renting
- those with a of a non-white ethnic background.
In addition to these demographic sub-groups, individuals who engaged in gambling in-person were also much more likely to agree with the outlined concern and financial discomfort statements, even more so than online gamblers. It is important to note that respondents were able to select any combination of gambling activities they have engaged in over the last 4 weeks and therefore online or in-person gambling has not been treated as mutually exclusive.
The following text summarises key longitudinal movements of all respondents between Wave 1 and Wave 3 across the four key statements that could be used to describe concern or financial discomfort.
For instructions on how to read the longitudinal tables please see the appendix for an example.
At a total level, agreement with the need to have looked at ways to make income go further (by reducing food portion size or buying second-hand goods, for example) was high across waves (from 60 percent in wave 1 and significantly increasing to 65 percent in wave 3).
Table 1.1 Financial Comfort and Concerns movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I have looked at ways I can make my income go further (all respondents)
| I have looked at ways I can make my income go further | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) | 60% | 86% | 9% | 4% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 834 | 718 | 76 | 36 | 4 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) | 19% | 45% | 34% | 21% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 265 | 118 | 91 | 55 | 1 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) | 20% | 24% | 19% | 56% | 1% |
| Counts | 278 | 68 | 52 | 156 | 2 |
| Don't know (percentage) | 1% | 29% | 50% | 7% | 14% |
| Counts | 14 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
Base: All respondents W1/W3 (1,391). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat/strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat/strongly disagree)
An overall analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that a majority of respondents who previously agreed with this statement, continued to agree in wave 3 (86 percent), while in the same way, a majority of those who previously disagreed with this statement continued to disagree in wave 3 (56 percent). However, those who previously responded neutrally to this statement wave 1 were most likely to move to agree with it in wave 3 (45 percent). Of those who previously said 'don’t know' in wave 1, the largest proportion went on to say that they neither agreed or disagreed in wave 3 (50 percent).
The following analysis focuses on the wave 1 to wave 3 response shift to NET: Agree, as well as sub-group analysis around these key agreement groups.
As stated earlier, the rate in which respondents agreed with this statement remained high across tracking, with over 8 in 10 (86 percent) of those who had reported this in wave 1 maintaining their agreement in wave 3. This group of individuals who agreed with this statement in waves 1 and 3 are demographically and behaviourally most similar to those previously identified as being most likely to report having financial concerns related to the rise in cost of living.
Just under half (45 percent) of those who had previously reported to neither agree or disagree with the statement in wave 1 moved to agree by wave 3. These respondents were more likely to be 18 to 24 years of age (18 percent) and self-employed (15 percent), while also sharing similar traits with those who have agreed consistently (those with children under 18, renters and homeowners with mortgages, households with 5 or more people, and those scoring 8 and above on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI).
A smaller proportion of those who had either disagreed with or didn’t know about how they felt about the statement of needing to look at ways to economise in wave 1 later agreed with this statement in wave 3 (24 percent and 29 percent, respectively).
Overall, 2 in 5 (40 percent) of respondents agreed that they were concerned about their ability to buy necessities in wave 1 and remained stable in wave 3 (41 percent).
Table 1.2 Financial Comfort and Concerns movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I am concerned about my ability to buy everything I need for myself and/or my family (all respondents)
| I am concerned about my ability to buy everything I need for myself and/or my family | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
40% | 75% | 15% | 9% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 562 | 423 | 85 | 52 | 2 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
21% | 31% | 41% | 27% | 1% |
| Counts | 296 | 93 | 121 | 79 | 3 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
37% | 10% | 11% | 78% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 521 | 54 | 58 | 408 | 1 |
| Don't know (percentage) |
1% | 25% | 50% | 17% | 8% |
| Counts | 12 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
Base: All respondents W1/W3 (1,391). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat/strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat/strongly disagree).
An investigation into the longitudinal movements of respondents reveals that most who previously agreed with this statement, continued to agree in wave 3 (75 percent). Similarly, the largest proportion of those who previously responded neutrally to this statement continued to do so in wave 3 (41 percent), while a majority of those who previously disagreed with this statement continued to disagree in wave 3 (78 percent). Of those who previously said 'don’t know' in wave 1, the largest proportion went on to say that they neither agreed or disagreed in wave 3 (50 percent).
The following analysis focuses on the wave 1 to wave 3 response shift to NET: Agree, as well as sub-group analysis around these key agreement groups.
Similar to the previous statement, a majority of those who agreed with this statement in wave 1 continued to agree with it wave 3 (75 percent). Individuals who consistently agreed with this statement in waves 1 and 3 are demographically and behaviourally most similar to those previously identified as being most likely to report having financial concerns related to the rise in cost of living.
A third (31 percent) of those who previously neither agreed or disagreed moved to agreement in wave 3. These respondents were more likely to be self-employed (13 percent) or parents or guardians of children between 11 and 15 years old (11 percent).
Only 1 in 10 (10 percent) of those who previously disagreed in wave 1 went on to agree that they were concerned about being able to afford necessities in wave 3 (specifically, those with a household income of £55,000 or more, 7 percent) and a quarter (25 percent) of those who said ‘don’t know’ in wave 1 agreed with the statement in wave 3.
Amongst all respondents, agreement with finding it difficult to manage financially was relatively low and remained stable across tracking (31 percent from wave 1 to wave 3).
Table 1.3 Financial Comfort and Concerns movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – At the moment I am finding it difficult to manage financially (all respondents)
| At the moment I am finding it difficult to manage financially | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
31% | 71% | 20% | 8% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 431 | 308 | 86 | 36 | 1 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
22% | 26% | 44% | 29% | 1% |
| Counts | 309 | 38 | 84 | 518 | 1 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
46% | 6% | 13% | 81% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 641 | 38 | 84 | 518 | 1 |
| Don't know (percentage) |
1% | 40% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| Counts | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Base: All respondents W1/W3 (1,391). NETs include the following: NET: Agree (somewhat/strongly agree), NET: Disagree (somewhat/strongly disagree).
An analysis of longitudinal movements shows that a majority of respondents who previously agreed with this statement, continued to agree in wave 3 (71 percent). In the same way, the greatest proportion of those who previously neither agree or disagreed continued to neither agree or disagree in wave 3 (44 percent) and those who disagreed with this statement in wave 1 were most likely to continue to disagree in wave 3 (81 percent). Of those who previously said 'don’t know' in wave 1, the largest proportion went on to say that they agreed in wave 3 (40 percent).
The following analysis focuses on the wave 1 to wave 3 response shift to NET: Agree, as well as sub-group analysis around these key agreement groups.
However, 7 in 10 (71 percent) of those who had previously agreed with this statement in wave 1 continued to agree in wave 3. Similar to the statements covered above, individuals who agreed with this statement in both waves 1 and 3 belong to the same key groups previously identified as being likely to have concerns about their finances.
Just over a fifth (26 percent) of those who previously neither agreed or disagreed moved to agree with the statement in wave 3. Of the 26 percent who responded neutrally in wave 1 and moved to agree in wave 3, they were most likely to be between the ages of 25 to 33 (11 percent) or those with a longstanding condition or disability (8 percent).
Only 6 percent of those who previously disagreed went on to agree with the statement in wave 3.
Two fifths (40 percent) of those who previously said ‘don’t know’ moved to agree that they were finding it difficult to manage financially in wave 3.
Finally, at a total level, while only 31 percent of respondents agreed that they have needed to consider, or have found, additional ways to supplement their income in wave 1, agreement increased significantly in wave 3 to 35 percent.
Table 1.4 Financial Comfort and Concerns movements from Wave 1 to Wave 3 – I have needed to consider, or have found, additional ways to supplement my income (all respondents)
| I have needed to consider, or have found, additional ways to supplement my income | Total Wave 1 |
Wave 3 NET: Agree |
Wave 3 Neither agree or disagree |
Wave 3 NET: Disagree |
Wave 3 Don't know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NET: Agree (percentage) |
31% | 71% | 14% | 15% | less than 0% |
| Counts | 427 | 303 | 59 | 63 | 3 |
| Neither agree or disagree (percentage) |
23% | 27% | 37% | 34% | 2% |
| Counts | 315 | 86 | 115 | 108 | 6 |
| NET: Disagree (percentage) |
45% | 14% | 13% | 71% | 1% |
| Counts | 626 | 90 | 82 | 447 | 7 |
| Don't know (percentage) |
2% | 23% | 35% | 26% | 13% |
| Counts | 26 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 3 |
An overall analysis of longitudinal movements reveals that a majority of respondents who previously agreed with this statement, continued to agree in wave 3 (71 percent). Similarly, a plurality of those who previously responded neutrally to the statement continued to do so in wave 3 (37 percent) while a majority of those who disagreed with this statement in wave 1 continued to disagree in wave 3 (71 percent). Of those who previously said 'don’t know' in wave 1, around a third went on to say that they neither agreed or disagreed in wave 3 (35 percent).
The following analysis focuses on the wave 1 to wave 3 response shift to NET: Agree, as well as sub-group analysis around these key agreement groups.
Of those who had originally agreed in wave 1, a majority (71 percent) continued to agree with this statement in wave 3. The profile of individuals who were most likely agree with this statement across waves aligns with the key sub-groups identified to be mostly likely to agree with all four financial concern statements overall.
Around a quarter (27 percent) of respondents who previously responded neutrally to this statement had said they agreed with the statement in wave 3. Among the 27 percent who were most likely to have responded neutrally in wave 1 and agree in wave 3 were those aged between 25 to 34 years (10 percent), have a longstanding mental health condition (11 percent), be self-employed (12 percent), and those who have played free-to-play games within the last 4 weeks (10 percent, each wave).
14 percent of those who disagreed with this statement in wave 1 had said that they agreed with the statement in wave 3. Amongst the 14 percent who were most likely to have disagreed in wave 1 and agree in wave 3 were those aged 25 to 35 years (11 percent), those with a household income of £21,000 to £28,000 (9 percent), or be a house person (15 percent).
Similar to earlier statements, a quarter (25 percent) of those who said ‘don’t know’ in wave 1 moved on to agree that they had needed to consider, or find ways to supplement their income in wave 3.
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Last updated: 27 February 2024
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