UK gambling activities: Participation remains stable, survey finds

Results of Gambling in Britain Survey

The Gambling Commission has published the latest results of the Gambling in Britain Survey (GSGB), conducted by NatCen, covering data collected between April and July 2024. Based on interviews with 4,657 adults aged 18 and over, the findings provide insight into gambling habits across the country:

-Overall gambling participation, defined as involvement in any gambling activity in the past four weeks, remained stable at 48%, in line with data from 2023 and early 2024.

-A significant proportion of participants (20%) engaged exclusively in lottery draws, such as the National Lottery or charity lotteries. Excluding these individuals, gambling participation stood at 28%.

-The data also highlighted differences in gambling habits across demographic groups. Overall gambling participation was highest among men aged 45-64, but when lottery-only players were excluded, men aged 25-34 emerged as the most active gambling demographic.

-Online gambling remains common – 37% of respondents have gambled in the past four weeks. However, this figure drops to 17% if those who only played online lotteries are excluded.

Respondents cited “the chance to win a lot of money” and “because it’s fun” as the main reasons for gambling. Meanwhile, 29% of respondents reported having gambled in person, a percentage that dropped to 18% when lottery-only players were excluded.

Lotteries continued to dominate as the most popular gambling activity, with 31% of participants taking part in National Lottery draws and 16% taking part in other charity lotteries. Other preferred activities were scratch cards (12%), gambling (12%) and online instant win games (7%).

In addition, gambling participation was found to have increased by more than 3 percentage points compared to the previous survey wave.

The survey methodology used differs from previous publications, making direct historical comparisons difficult.