UK Gambling Commission Issues Third Annual Report on Gambling Survey for Great Britain

The UK Gambling Commission has published its third annual report drawn from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain, which compiles responses collected from roughly 20,775 adults throughout 2025. This release marks the first time three full years of comparable official trend data exist on participation, behaviour, attitudes, and harms, giving regulators and observers a consistent baseline against which future shifts can be measured. The survey employs standardised questions each year so that year-on-year comparisons rest on the same methodological footing rather than on changing definitions or sampling frames.

Key Participation Figures Released

Data from the latest wave show that 47 percent of adults in Great Britain reported having gambled in the four weeks before completing the questionnaire. That figure covers all forms of regulated gambling, from lottery tickets and scratch cards to online slots and sports betting. Because the survey now stretches across three annual cycles, analysts can trace whether this participation rate has risen, fallen, or held steady since the first comparable dataset appeared. The report presents these numbers without adjustment for seasonal events, allowing direct observation of underlying patterns across the three-year span.

Problem Gambling Rates Hold Steady

Problem gambling prevalence, measured by a PGSI score of eight or higher, remained at 2.4 percent. The Problem Gambling Severity Index asks respondents nine questions about their gambling behaviour and its consequences, producing a score that classifies individuals into categories ranging from non-problem to problem gambling. The fact that this rate has shown no statistically significant movement across the three reporting periods supplies the first clear trend line available from a single, official source. Observers note that stability at this level occurs even as overall participation sits near 47 percent, which means the proportion of people experiencing the most serious harms has not shifted in tandem with broader engagement figures.

Survey Design and Sample Scope

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain draws on a large, randomly selected sample each year to produce nationally representative estimates. With more than 20,000 completed responses in 2025, the dataset supports breakdowns by age, gender, region, and gambling type while maintaining acceptable margins of error. Because the same core questionnaire and weighting procedures have been applied since the first annual report, researchers can now isolate genuine behavioural changes from artefacts introduced by survey redesigns. The Commission states that this consistency enables more reliable tracking of both participation trends and the distribution of gambling-related harms across demographic groups.

Three Years of Comparable Trend Data

Before the current series began, official statistics on gambling participation and harms often came from separate surveys that used different questions and sampling methods, which complicated efforts to identify genuine movements over time. The GSGB series addresses that limitation by locking the methodology in place for successive waves. The third annual report therefore supplies the initial opportunity to examine whether the 2.4 percent problem gambling rate and the 47 percent participation rate represent stable features of the British market or whether they are beginning to drift. Figures reveal that both headline indicators have remained within narrow bands across the three releases, giving policymakers a clearer picture of the current baseline.

Attitudes and Harms Captured in the Dataset

In addition to participation and problem gambling scores, the survey gathers information on public attitudes toward gambling and on a wider range of potential harms. Respondents answer questions about financial difficulties, relationship strain, and emotional distress linked to their gambling. Because these items repeat each year, the report can show whether the distribution of such harms has changed even while the overall problem gambling rate stays constant. The three-year window also permits examination of whether certain demographic groups consistently report higher exposure to harms, supplying detail that single-year snapshots could not reliably provide.

Release Context in August 2026

The Commission published the report during August 2026, placing the findings into the public domain at a moment when three complete annual cycles are finally available. Stakeholders seeking to understand the current state of gambling participation and harm therefore have access to trend data rather than isolated annual figures. The report itself contains tables that allow readers to compare 2023, 2024, and 2025 results side by side, highlighting the stability already noted in both participation and problem gambling prevalence.

Conclusion

The third annual Gambling Survey for Great Britain report establishes the first extended run of comparable official statistics on adult gambling behaviour in Great Britain. With problem gambling rates holding at 2.4 percent and past-four-week participation at 47 percent across three survey waves, the dataset offers regulators and researchers a consistent reference point for monitoring future developments. The large sample size and fixed methodology mean that subsequent releases can be read against this established baseline without the confounding effects of changing survey design.