Latest gambling participation report published by UKGC

The UK Gambling Commission’s new report on overall gambling participation and perceptions in 2016 provides a “more detailed snapshot of online behaviors” and makes for interesting reading.

The survey comprised 1000 respondents who were interviewed either telephonically or online with headline findings identified by the UKGC as:

A 3 percent increase over 2015 in respondents who had gambled in the past four weeks to 48 percent or 33 percent if respondents who only played the National Lottery are excluded.

53 percent of men (2015: 50 percent) and 44 percent of women (2015: 41 percent) have gambled, of which 17 percent did so online.

Mobile and tablet device gamblers increased 10 percent to 43 percent.

23 percent of gamblers have read terms and conditions.

68 percent of 18-24 year olds have been influenced to gamble by adverts and posts on social media of which 0.7 percent of those that have gambled in the past 12 months were identified as problem gamblers (2015: 0.5 percent), with 5.5 percent identified as at-risk gamblers.

67 percent of respondent’s think people should have the right to gamble whenever they want.

78 percent of respondents feel there are too many opportunities to gamble nowadays, whilst 69 percent feel gambling is dangerous for family life.

“This report paints an important picture of how consumers in Britain choose to gamble – identifying emerging trends and potential risks to the public,” James Green, programme director, said.

“Effective protections come from strong evidence. Our research puts us in a powerful position to better understand the needs of gambling consumers.”

The full report can be read here: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/survey-data/Gambling-participation-in-2016-behaviour-awareness-and-attitudes.pdf