Statistics and research release
Statistics on gambling participation – Annual report Year 1 (2023): Official statistics
Findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain: Statistics on gambling participation, experiences of and reasons for gambling, and consequences from gambling.
Find out more about the Gambling Survey for Great Britain
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Summary
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The data being released today contains findings from the first year of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB). The survey aims to collect data to enable us to further understand:
- who participates in gambling
- what type of gambling activities they participate in
- experiences of and reasons for gambling
- the consequences that gambling can have on individuals and others close to them.
This survey was conducted using a push-to-web approach, with data collected from 9,742 adults aged 18 years and older living in Great Britain. Fieldwork was carried out between July 2023 and February 2024, consisting of two waves. The survey is commissioned by the Gambling Commission and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with the University of Glasgow.
The new push-to-web methodology of this survey means that estimates presented in this report are not directly comparable with results from prior gambling or health surveys and such comparisons should not be used to assess trends over time. The GSGB data outlined in this report represents the first year of a new baseline, against which future changes can be compared.
The GSGB, like most other surveys, collects information from a sample of the population. Statistics based on surveys are estimates, rather than precise figures, and are subject to a margin of error (a 95 percent confidence interval). Generally, the larger the sample the smaller the margin of error.
Further details on the GSGB methodology can be found in the GSGB technical report .
All surveys have strengths and limitations and we have outlined the strengths and limitations of our approach in the data analysis and reporting section of the technical report . We have also published guidance on how to use the statistics from the GSGB.
Key facts
Participation
Nearly half (48 percent) of participants aged 18 and over participated in any form of gambling in the past four weeks. Gambling participation was 27 percent when those who only participated in lottery draws were excluded.
Participants were more likely to gamble online than gamble in person (37 percent and 29 percent respectively), however, much of this difference was accounted for by people purchasing lottery tickets online. When lottery draws are removed, 18 percent of participants had gambled in person, compared with 15 percent online.
The mean number of activities for those who had participated in gambling in the past 4 weeks was 2.3 activities. The most commonly reported activities were the National Lottery (31 percent), buying tickets for other charity lotteries (16 percent), and buying scratchcards (13 percent).
Experiences of and reasons for gambling
When asked to rate their feelings towards gambling out of 10, where 10 represented that they loved it, and 0 represented that they hated it. 41 percent of adults who gambled in the past 12 months rated the last time they gambled with a positive score of between 6 and 10, 37 percent gave a score of 5, expressing that they neither loved or hated it, and 21 percent gave a negative score of between 0 and 4. When participation in lottery draws was excluded, the pattern was similar with a higher proportion giving a positive score (50 percent between 6 and 10, 31 percent a neutral score of 5, and 19 percent a negative score between 0 and 4).
The most common reasons for adults to participate in gambling were for the chance of winning big money (86 percent), because gambling is fun (70 percent), to make money (58 percent) and because it was exciting (55 percent). Those aged 18 to 24 were the only age group where gambling because it was fun (83 percent) was more common than gambling to win big money (79 percent).
Consequences from gambling
Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores for specific activities are shown as relative differences which can be higher or lower than the average for all people who had gambled in the past 12 months. Our data shows that those who had bet on non-sports events in person, were over 9 times more likely than the average for those who have gambled in the past 12 months to have a PGSI score of 8 or more. Those who had gambled on online slots were more than 5 times more likely than average to have a PGSI score of 8 or more.
Of all adults who had gambled in the past 12 months, the most reported severe consequence was relationship breakdown due to own gambling (1.6 percent), whilst the most frequently reported potential adverse consequences (happening at least occasionally) were reducing spending on everyday items (6.8 percent), lying to family (6.4 percent) and feeling isolated (5.5 percent).
The survey allows us to look at the relationship between PGSI and consequences from own gambling, something that has not been previously possible. The data shows that 41.2 percent of those with a PSGI score of 8 or more reported experiencing at least one of the severe consequences asked about. Equivalent estimates were 8.5 percent for those with a PGSI score of 3 to 7, 1.4 percent for those with a PGSI score of 1 to 2, and 0.6 percent for those with a PGSI score of 0, demonstrating how experience of severe consequences can be experienced by individuals with a range of PGSI scores.
For the first time, the Commission has collected data on the consequences of someone else gambling. In the GSGB survey, nearly half (48.1 percent) of adults reported someone close to them gambled. The most reported severe consequence being relationship breakdown (3.5 percent). The most frequently experienced consequences were experiencing embarrassment, guilt or shame, experiencing of conflict or arguments and experiencing health problems, including stress and anxiety.
Details
These statistics comprise our official statistics on gambling participation, experiences of and reasons for gambling and consequences from gambling.
Please note that the data presented from the GSGB is not comparable to previous gambling survey publications due to changes in the methodology.
The next GSGB annual release (2024 Annual publication) will be released in summer 2025.
Full publication and key information
View the GSGB Annual report (2023)
Publication produced by: National Centre for Social Research and the University of Glasgow.
Publication authors: Wardle, H., Ridout, K., Tipping, S., Wilson, H., Maxineanu, I., & Hill, S.
Responsible Statistician: Helen Bryce (Head of Statistics).
Notes
This publication was updated on 5 December 2024.
An error was identified by the research agency affecting the data published on 25 July 2024. The error related to duplicate cases in the dataset, whereby duplicates were not fully checked across the two completion modes, and in addition, all potential duplicates were flagging for deletion rather than just the record for deletion. This has had an overall decreasing effect on the number of cases in the dataset, reducing the total by 62, from 9,804 to 9,742 cases. As a result of this, several of the data points in the report and Excel files have been amended, with the affected data points changing by up to one percentage point.
This publication is primarily for anyone who has an involvement or interest in the gambling industry including government, licensed operators, trade bodies, international regulators, journalists, academic researchers, financial institutions, statisticians, consumers and local authorities.
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