The data is the Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) conducted by NatCen. A nationally representative sample of 5,191 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed during the period January 2024 to April 2024 and the results are detailed in this report.  Further details on the GSGB methodology can be found in the GSGB Year 2 (2024), wave 1 report and the GSGB technical report. All surveys have strengths and limitations and we have outlined the strengths and limitations of our approach in the data analysis and reporting section of the technical report.

Key facts

• Overall participation in any gambling activity (in the past 4 weeks) was 48 percent, the same proportion that was observed throughout 2023.
• Over one fifth of respondents (21 percent) only took part in lottery draws (either National Lottery or other charity lottery draws) in the past 4 weeks. If we exclude these respondents who have only taken part in lottery draws, gambling participation was 27 percent. 
• Overall gambling participation is highest for males aged 45 to 54 years old. However, removing lottery draw only players, shifts the age profile downwards, resulting in males aged 35 to 44 having the highest gambling participation rates. 
• The online gambling participation rate (in the past four weeks) was 38 percent. which falls to 16 percent when lottery draw only players are removed. This highlights the large proportion of online players that only gamble on lottery draws. 
• The in-person gambling participation rate (in the past four weeks) was 29 percent. Excluding lottery draw only players, the participation rate was 18 percent. 
• The most popular gambling activities (in the past 4 weeks) were lotteries, including National Lottery draws (32 percent) and other charity lottery draws (16 percent). Following lotteries, the next 3 most popular activities were scratchcards (14 percent), betting (9 percent) and online instant win games (8 percent). This is consistent with data seen throughout 2023.
• The most popular reasons given as to why respondents gambled was ‘for the chance to win big money’ and ‘because it’s fun’.