The final quarterly participation report has been released by the Gambling Commission

The latest quarterly telephone surveys on participation and problem gambling have been published by the UK’s Gambling Commission. However, these statistical reports will be substituted by the new Gambling Survey for Great Britain starting from November.

The latest report from the Gambling Commission shows minimal changes compared to the previous quarter and year, with all categories remaining statistically stable. The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) increased slightly from 0.2 to 0.3 per cent.

Yonder Consulting surveyed 4,002 over 16s in March and found that in-person gambling participation remained at 27 per cent, down from 35 per cent before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Online gambling participation remained steady at 26 per cent. Yonder Consulting has been conducting the telephone survey since 2016 and has found no significant increase in overall gambling participation.

In-person gambling participation decreased during the pandemic while online gambling participation has been increasing over the past seven years.

However, there has been a decline in the number of people who believe gambling is conducted fairly, although trust in the industry has stabilized after hitting a low in 2019-2020. Additionally, there has been a decrease in the number of players classified as moderate and low risk.

Starting in November, the Gambling Commission will be using a new methodology developed by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to report on gambling participation.

The new survey was piloted last May and was approved by the regulator despite concerns of oversampling problem gamblers. NatCen refined the methodology and content through testing, including experiments on household selection and presentation of harm statements.

The final methodology recommends inviting two adults per household to participate and using a four-point scale.