Great Britain’s Gambling Commission has completed the first year of reporting data from its Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) with the release of Year 2, Wave 4 statistics.
The latest data found that overall participation in any gambling activity in the past four weeks was 46 per cent, down from 49 per cent in Wave 3.
Participation in lottery draws in the past four weeks has also significantly decreased between Wave 3 and Wave 4 (37 per cent to 34 per cent).
Almost one fifth of respondents – 19 per cent – only took part in lottery draws in the past four weeks, comprising either the National Lottery or charity lottery draws.
Without those contributions, the gambling participation rate falls to 28 per cent, which the Gambling Commission said has remained “stable” throughout 2024.
“Overall gambling participation is highest for males aged 35 to 64. However, removing lottery draw only players shifts the age profile downwards, resulting in males aged 18 to 24 having the highest gambling participation rates in the past 4 weeks (47 per cent),” the regulator said.
The most popular gambling activities following lottery draws were scratchcards (12 per cent), betting (10 per cent) and online instant win games (seven per cent).
Including lotteries, the in-person gambling participation rate in the past four weeks was 28 per cent, falling to 18 per cent without lottery players.
Online, 37 per cent was the gambling participation rate – 17 per cent without lottery players.
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