The data being released is the first edition of the UK Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) conducted by NatCen.

A nationally representative sample of 4,801 adults aged 18 and over were interviewed during the period July to November 2023 and the results are detailed in this report.

Overall participation in any gambling activity (in the last 4 weeks) was 48 percent. 

Over one fifth of respondents (21 percent) only took part in lottery draws (either National Lottery or other charity lottery draws) in the last 4 weeks. If we exclude those 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 only draw players, shifts the age profile downwards, resulting in males aged 18 to 44 having the highest gambling participation rates.

The online gambling participation rate (in the last four weeks) was 38 percent and falls to 16 percent when lottery draw only players are removed. This highlights the large proportion of online gamblers that only gamble on lottery draws.

The in-person gambling participation rate (in the last four weeks) was 29 percent. Excluding lottery draw only players, the participation rate was 18 percent.

The most popular reasons given as to why respondents gambled was for the fun and/or enjoyment factor or for monetary reasons.