First annual Gambling Survey for Great Britain published

About the study

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) 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. 

Findings

Participation 

• Nearly half (48%) of participants aged 18 and over participated in any form of gambling in the past four weeks. Gambling participation was 27 per cent when those who only participated in lottery draws were excluded.  

Experiences of and reasons for gambling 

• 41 per cent 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 per cent gave a score of 5, expressing that they neither loved nor hated it, and 21 per cent gave a negative score of between 0 and 4.
• The most common reasons for adults to participate in gambling were for the chance of winning big money (86%), because gambling is fun (70%), to make money (58%) and because it was exciting (55%).

Consequences of gambling

• 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%), whilst the most frequently reported potential adverse consequences (happening at least occasionally) were reducing spending on everyday items (6.6%), lying to family (6.4%) and feeling isolated (5.5%).
• For the first time, data has been collected on the consequences of someone else gambling. In the GSGB survey, nearly half (47.9%) of adults reported someone close to them gambled. The most reported severe consequence being relationship breakdown (3.5%). The most frequently experienced consequences were experiencing embarrassment, guilt or shame, experiencing conflict or arguments and experiencing health problems, including stress and anxiety.

Methodology 

This survey was conducted using a push-to-web approach, with data collected from 9,804 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.