UK Gambling Commission Issues Third Annual GSGB Report Highlighting Consistent Participation Trends

The UK Gambling Commission released its third annual Gambling Survey for Great Britain report on 16 July 2026, and this document delivers the first three consecutive years of comparable official statistics spanning 2023 through 2025. The survey tracks adult gambling participation alongside behaviours, attitudes, and harms across Great Britain, while the regulator positions these figures as its primary evidence base for ongoing policy decisions. Data collected from over 20,000 participants forms the backbone of the findings, which show stable overall participation rates and a problem gambling rate measured by PGSI score of 8 or higher that remained steady at 2.4 percent.

Survey Scope and Timeline

The report covers three full years of data collection that began in 2023, and it marks the first time regulators have access to directly comparable annual statistics on this scale. Participation rates held steady across the period, while the problem gambling indicator showed no measurable shift from the 2.4 percent level recorded in prior waves. Officials gathered responses from more than 20,000 adults, and the resulting dataset allows direct year-on-year comparison of both recreational gambling patterns and indicators of harm.

Key Statistical Findings

Figures reveal that overall adult gambling participation remained consistent between 2023 and 2025, and the problem gambling rate measured through the Problem Gambling Severity Index stayed fixed at 2.4 percent for those scoring 8 or above. The survey captures a wide range of behaviours including frequency of play, preferred gambling formats, and attitudes toward risk, while separate modules address self-reported harms and help-seeking actions. Because the same methodology applied across all three years, researchers can now trace trends without the breaks that previously limited analysis.

Methodology and Data Collection

Researchers designed the Gambling Survey for Great Britain to produce nationally representative results, and they weighted responses to reflect the adult population across England, Scotland, and Wales. More than 20,000 individuals completed detailed questionnaires each year, and the instrument includes validated scales such as the PGSI alongside custom questions on attitudes and harms. The Commission states that this approach supplies the core evidence used to inform regulatory priorities and to monitor the effectiveness of existing measures. Data from the 2025 wave, released in July 2026, completes the first unbroken three-year sequence and therefore strengthens the reliability of observed stability in both participation and problem gambling rates.

Policy Context and Regulatory Use

The Commission treats the GSGB as its central source of evidence when shaping policy, and the three-year run of comparable data now allows officials to assess whether interventions produce measurable change over time. Stable participation rates suggest that overall engagement with licensed gambling products has not shifted dramatically, while the unchanged 2.4 percent problem gambling figure provides a baseline against which future waves can be judged. Regulators have already referenced earlier iterations of the survey when reviewing licence conditions and when allocating resources for harm-minimisation initiatives, and the 2026 release extends that evidence trail through 2025.

Comparison Across the Three-Year Period

Because the survey maintained identical question wording and sampling frames from 2023 onward, direct comparisons become possible for the first time. Participation levels showed little movement year to year, and the problem gambling rate held at 2.4 percent across all three waves. Attitudes toward gambling risk and reported experiences of harm also remained broadly consistent, according to the published tables. The absence of significant fluctuation supplies regulators with a clearer picture of the current landscape than fragmented earlier datasets could provide.

Conclusion

The third annual GSGB report, published on 16 July 2026, supplies the first continuous three-year record of comparable official statistics on gambling participation, behaviours, attitudes, and harms in Great Britain. With responses from over 20,000 participants each year and a problem gambling rate that remained at 2.4 percent, the findings give the Commission a strengthened evidence foundation for policy decisions. Future releases will build on this baseline, allowing ongoing assessment of whether participation and harm indicators continue to hold steady or begin to shift.