UK Gambling Commission Publishes Third Annual GSGB Report with Comparable Data Through 2025

The UK Gambling Commission released its third annual report from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain on trends covering 2023 through 2025, and the data draws from responses by more than 20,000 adults to establish the first set of robust multi-year comparisons on participation, behaviours, attitudes, and harms. Survey fieldwork ran across January 2025 to January 2026, which produced a headline participation figure of 47 percent of adults who reported gambling in the preceding four weeks. That rate sits alongside a problem gambling prevalence that remained unchanged at 2.4 percent across the three-year window.

Survey Scope and Methodology

Researchers designed the GSGB to replace earlier fragmented data collections with a single, consistent instrument that allows direct year-on-year tracking. More than 20,000 adults completed the questionnaire each year, and the sample structure supports breakdowns by age, gender, region, and gambling type. Because the same questions appear in each wave, analysts can now isolate genuine shifts from methodological noise. The report therefore supplies the first reliable baseline for monitoring how participation and harm indicators move together over time.

Participation Levels Across Three Years

Overall past-four-week participation held at 47 percent in the latest wave. Lotteries remained the most common activity, followed by scratch cards and then online casino and betting products. In-person betting at licensed premises showed modest stability while online channels continued to account for a growing share of total activity. Age patterns followed familiar lines, with younger adults more likely to report online casino and sports betting, whereas older adults showed higher engagement with lotteries and bingo. Regional differences persisted but narrowed slightly between the highest and lowest participation areas.

Problem Gambling Rate Holds Steady

The problem gambling rate measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index stayed at 2.4 percent throughout the three-year period. Moderate-risk gambling also showed little movement. These stable figures emerged even as overall participation remained constant, which suggests that changes in product mix or channel did not produce measurable shifts in population-level harm during this window. The report notes that continued monitoring remains necessary because individual products and player segments can still experience different trajectories.

Attitudes and Harm Indicators

Attitude questions revealed broadly consistent views on the availability and regulation of gambling. Most respondents considered gambling a legitimate leisure activity when undertaken responsibly, while a smaller but steady minority expressed concern about its wider social effects. Self-reported negative consequences, such as financial strain or relationship difficulties, aligned closely with the problem gambling measure and showed no statistically significant change across the survey waves. The data therefore provide an early indication that the current regulatory and harm-minimisation framework has coincided with steady population outcomes between 2023 and 2025.

First Multi-Year Insights

Because earlier surveys used differing methodologies, trend analysis had been limited. The GSGB now supplies directly comparable figures on participation, problem gambling, and selected harm indicators for three consecutive years. Analysts can therefore examine whether specific regulatory interventions or market developments coincide with changes in these metrics. The report emphasises that three data points constitute an initial series rather than a long-term trend, yet the consistency of the problem gambling rate already offers a clearer reference point than previously available.

Context in Mid-2026

By July 2026 the Commission and other stakeholders have begun incorporating the new baseline into ongoing policy reviews and operator compliance assessments. The stable 2.4 percent problem gambling rate supplies a concrete benchmark against which future waves can be judged. At the same time, the 47 percent participation figure continues to inform discussions about product availability and consumer protection measures across both online and land-based sectors.

Conclusion

The third annual GSGB report delivers the first comparable multi-year dataset on gambling participation and harms in Great Britain. With more than 20,000 adults surveyed each year, the 47 percent participation rate and unchanged 2.4 percent problem gambling prevalence now stand as reference points for 2023–2025. Further waves will show whether these levels persist or shift as the market and regulatory environment continue to evolve. The full dataset and technical documentation appear on the Gambling Commission website at the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (Annual Report 2025): Official statistics page.