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Statistics and research release

Statistics on participation and problem gambling for the year to March 2021

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

Statistics
Statistics and research hub

Collection
Consumer gambling behaviour

Series
Gambling participation and problem gambling

Published on
27 April 2021

Summary

Also published recently

Additional data sets in this series

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.

Data and downloads

Files

Survey data on gambling participation year to March 2021 XLSX 674.8 kB

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