It's been a big day for betting news, especially so in the UK market. Today, the Gambling Commission finally released its new survey on problem gambling, which was always going to attract a variety responses.
And, indeed, the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has expressed concerns regarding the methodology used in the recent Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB).
According to a BGC spokesperson, the survey's approach differs significantly from previous studies on betting and gaming, prompting the Gambling Commission to caution against using GSGB results to compare with past surveys, measure addiction or extrapolate problem gambling prevalence across the entire population.
The BGC argues that the GSGB findings might be unreliable due to the potential overstatement of gambling participation and related harms, pointing out that surveys relying mainly on online self-completion tend to produce higher estimates of gambling participation and associated harms compared to traditional survey methods.
An independent review of the GSGB by Professor Patrick Sturgis from the London School of Economics supports the BGC's concerns, advising policymakers to treat the survey figures with caution due to the "non-negligible risk" of overstating the true levels of gambling and gambling harm in the population.
It must be stated overall, though, that the Commission has been very clear about the change in its methodology and that it has not hidden Sturgis' independent review
The BGC’s spokesperson stated: “The methodology used in this survey is different to those previously conducted into betting and gaming. As a result, the Gambling Commission has been clear, GSGB should not be used to make direct comparisons with results from prior surveys, as a measure of addiction or to gross up problem gambling prevalence to the whole population.
“Our members are concerned these findings may be unreliable because there is a significant risk GSGB overstates gambling participation and gambling-related harm.
“The BGC and our members are committed to raising standards and we welcome any robust study that accurately gauges betting and gaming participation and problem gambling prevalence.”
Earlier this week, the BGC announced that its members have donated £172.5m ($222.73m) to address problem gambling over the last four years, with the funding largely being used to support Research, Prevention and Treatment (RPT) initiatives.
It must be stated overall, though, that the Commission has been very clear about the change in its methodology and that it has not hidden Sturgis' independent review.
