Gambling - 2016 prevalence study issued

Each year the Commission publishes, as part of its role as regulator, a report regarding the public participation in Gambling over the previous period.

The rise of participation generally and online specifically can be charted through the previous reports.  Effectiveness of issues such as self-exclusion by customers can also be reviewed in the context of the report’s findings. The report is compiled following approximately 3000 interviews (1,000 online interviews, 2,000 telephone interviews) each quarter.

The 2016 report can be found here.

Any regulator looks for evidence to inform their policies and any interventions into their sector.

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.”

Amongst the report’s finding are the following:

• 48% of respondents have gambled in the past four weeks (a 3% increase on 2015), this figure drops to 33% when you exclude those that have only played the National Lottery
• 7% of those that have gambled in the past 12 months identified as problem gamblers (compared to 0.5% in 2015)
• 6% of gamblers have ever self-excluded, an additional 37% of gamblers are aware of self-exclusion, an increase of 8% from 2015