For the second straight year, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published the insights from its survey of adults to get an idea about the current state of gambling participants, behaviors, and consequences.
The findings presented in collaboration with the University of Glasgow and the National Centre for Social Research were collated after consultation with 19,714 respondents.
One of the highlight findings was that 48% of adults had gambled in the previous four-week period. This figure drops to 28% when disregarding people who had purchased lottery tickets.
2.7% of people had an especially high score on the Problem Gambling Severity Index
About 21% of the respondents who gambled in the previous year said they had a negative experience, and 2.7% of people had an especially high score on the Problem Gambling Severity Index, similar to 2023 levels.
The study also looked at reasons why people engage in gambling, with 85% of respondents trying to win large sums of money and 72% saying that they gamble for fun.
Talking about the importance of the annual survey, UKGC Executive Director Andrew Rhodes said that it allows the regulator to “deepen our understanding of consequences from gambling and provide crucial insight into risk profiles among those who gamble most frequently.” He asked gambling operators to use the evidence when making decisions regarding their own customers.
