Statistics and research release
Statistics on gambling participation – Year 1 (2023), Wave 1
Findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain: Statistics on gambling participation
Summary
The data being released today is the first edition of the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) conducted by NatCen. A nationally representative sample of 4,801 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed during the period July to November 2023 and the results are detailed in this report.
Further details on the GSGB methodology can be found in the GSGB Year 1 (2023), Wave 1 report and 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 .
Key facts
Overall participation in any gambling activity (in the last 4 weeks) was 48 percent.
Over one fifth of respondents (21 percent) only took part in lottery draws (either National Lottery or other charity lottery draws) in the last 4 weeks. If we exclude those respondents who have only taken part in lottery draws, gambling participation was 27 percent.
Overall gambling participation is highest for males aged 45 to 54 years old, however, removing lottery only draw players, shifts the age profile downwards, resulting in males aged 18 to 44 having the highest gambling participation rates.
The online gambling participation rate (in the last four weeks) was 38 percent and falls to 16 percent when lottery draw only players are removed. This highlights the large proportion of online gamblers that only gamble on lottery draws.
The in-person gambling participation rate (in the last four weeks) was 29 percent. Excluding lottery draw only players, the participation rate was 18 percent.
The most popular gambling activities (in the last 4 weeks) were lotteries including the National Lottery draws (31 percent) and other charity lottery draws (16 percent). Following lotteries, the next 3 most popular activities were scratchcards (13 percent), betting (10 percent) and instant wins (7 percent).
The most popular reasons given as to why respondents gambled was for the fun and/or enjoyment factor or for monetary reasons.
Details
This is the first edition of the GSGB and these statistics comprise our official statistics on gambling participation. The data presented from the GSGB is not comparable to previous gambling survey publications due to changes in the methodology.
The next publication in this series (Wave 2, 2023) will be released on 27 June 2024.
Notes
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.
About the status of official statistics.
Data and downloads
Files
Feedback
We are always keen to hear how these statistics are used and would welcome your views on this publication.
Give us feedback about these statistics (opens in a new tab).