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Statistics and research release

Statistics on participation and problem gambling for the year to Sept 2021: Official statistics

Findings from the quarterly telephone survey: Statistics on participation and problem gambling for the year to September 2021.

Official statistics

Summary

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) now gathers the latest data on gambling behaviours.

This statistical release covers the quarterly gambling participation and problem gambling prevalence data for the year to September 2021.

The data being released today is based on the Gambling Commission’s quarterly telephone survey conducted by Yonder Consulting. A nationally representative sample of 4,005 adults aged 16 and over were interviewed via telephone in December 2020, March 2021, June 2021 and September 2021. Some of the data for year to September 2021 was collected during some element of lockdown or restricted activity level. Further details on the quarterly telephone survey methodology can be found on the front cover of the main publication.

Key facts

  • In year to September 2021, overall participation in any gambling activity (in the last four weeks) has remained stable at 42%.
  • In year to September 2021, the online gambling participation rate is 25% (an increase of 2 percentage points on year to September 2020), whilst in person participation is down 5 percentage points to 24%. It should be noted that much of the online increase can be explained by increasing proportions of respondents playing National Lottery draws online.
  • The overall problem gambling rate has decreased significantly (0.3%, compared to 0.6% in year to September 2020).
  • The moderate risk rate has also decreased significantly to 0.7% (year to September 2021) compared to 1.2% in year to September 2020.

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.

We intend to publish the next quarterly participation and prevalence statistics in February 2022.

Data and downloads

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