Statistics and research release
Statistics on participation and problem gambling for the year to March 2021: Official statistics
Findings from the quarterly telephone survey: Statistics on participation and problem gambling for the year to March 2021.
Summary
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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 March 2021 and includes the first full set of yearly data since the start of the pandemic.
The data being released today is based on the Gambling Commission’s quarterly telephone survey conducted by Yonder Consulting.
A nationally representative sample of 4,009 adults aged 16 and over were interviewed via telephone in June 2020, September 2020 December 2020 and March 2021. All of the data was collected after national restrictions came into force in Great Britain (23 March 2020 onwards). Further details on the quarterly telephone survey methodology can be found on the front cover of the main publication.
Key facts
- Overall participation in any gambling activity in the last four weeks has fallen to 40% (a 7 percentage point decline compared to the previous year).
- Online gambling participation is up to 24% (an increase of 3 percentage points), whilst in person participation is down 12 percentage points to 23%.
- National Lottery draws, other lotteries and casino games have seen increases in online participation and decreases in in person participation.
- The overall problem gambling rate is 0.4%, compared to 0.6% the previous year, although this decrease is not statistically significant on the previous year's figures.
- The moderate risk rate has shown a significant decrease from 1.5% to 0.6%, as has the low risk rate from 2.7% to 1.9%.
Details
View and download the statistics.
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
- local authorities.
Read more about the status of official statistics.
We intend to publish the next quarterly participation and prevalence statistics in July 2021.
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Feedback
We are always keen to hear how these statistics are used and would welcome your views on this publication.