The GC present gambling ‘behaviours, awareness and attitudes’ report for 2016

UK Gambling Commission has released a comprehensive study on British consumers’ participation in gambling-related activities during the year 2016.

The GC’s report covers the ‘behaviours, awareness and attitudes’ of consumers in relation to gambling, as well as some more general statistics on player demographics. The data was gathered by Populus via a combination of telephone and online surveys with people aged 16 or over.

Gambling participation has seen an overall increase of 3%, with 48% of people aged 16 or over having participated in at least one form of gambling in the past four weeks.

There are 9% more male than female gamblers in the UK, and 17% of adults surveyed have gambled online. Betting activities, other lotteries and casino games have seen an increase in online participation; however, rates of playing bingo in-person have increased.

Consumers in the 35-64 age bracket are more likely to have gambled than those in younger age categories, predominantly due to this age group’s mass participation in the National Lottery. When people who have only participated in the National Lottery draws are excluded, participation is highest among 16-34 year olds.

Participation in The National Lottery remains the most popular gambling-related activity, followed by scratchcards and other lotteries. Driven by the UEFA European Football Championship 2016 and the Rio 2016 Olympics, both sports betting and private betting have significantly increased.

An estimated 0.7% of people identified as a problem gambler according to the short-form Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), with a further 5.5% identifying as at low or moderate risk. 39% of people associated gambling with crime; however, 34% of people believe gambling is fair and can be trusted.

James Green, Programme Director, comments: "Today we are publishing clear authoritative data on the gambling industry in Great Britain.

"For the first time the figures include almost a full year's worth of data relating to online gambling operators - the market share of the online betting, bingo and casino sector is 29% and we'll be interested to see how this varies over time.

"Offline we're seeing changes. For instance, there's been a reduction in the number of betting shops, arcades and bingo halls in the last two years.

"Market trends and consumer participation research are key to shaping the Commission's regulatory policy to keep gambling in Britain safe for consumers, fair, and crime-free."