UK Gambling Commission Releases Third Annual GSGB Report Covering Three Years of Data

The UK Gambling Commission published its third annual report from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain in 2026, delivering three consecutive years of official statistics spanning 2023 through 2025 on participation rates, behaviours, attitudes and consequences across the region. The survey draws from roughly 20,000 respondents each year and comes from the National Centre for Social Research working alongside the University of Glasgow, which produces consistent data that supports long-term trend analysis for regulators and industry stakeholders alike. Participation held steady at 47 percent in 2025 while the problem gambling rate, measured by a PGSI score of 8 or higher, remained fixed at 2.4 percent, allowing observers to track patterns without significant shifts in headline figures.

Survey Methodology and Scope

Researchers designed the Gambling Survey for Great Britain to gather robust, representative information through large annual samples that enable year-on-year comparisons, and the partnership between the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Glasgow ensures academic rigour in sampling, weighting and analysis. Data collection covers adults across England, Scotland and Wales, focusing on how people engage with gambling products, their attitudes toward the activity and any negative outcomes they experience. Because the same methodology applies across the three years, policymakers gain access to reliable baselines rather than isolated snapshots, which proves essential when evaluating regulatory changes or public health initiatives.

Stable Participation and Problem Gambling Indicators

Headline participation reached 47 percent in 2025, matching levels recorded in prior waves and confirming that overall engagement has not fluctuated dramatically despite evolving market conditions and policy discussions. The problem gambling rate stayed at 2.4 percent using the Problem Gambling Severity Index threshold of 8 or above, a figure that remained consistent across the 2023, 2024 and 2025 datasets. Observers note that stability in these core metrics provides a clearer picture of where harms concentrate and how specific demographic groups respond to different gambling formats, rather than suggesting broad increases or decreases that would require immediate large-scale intervention.

Attitudes, Behaviours and Consequences Tracked

The report examines attitudes toward gambling alongside behavioural patterns such as frequency, spend and product choice, while also capturing self-reported consequences that range from financial strain to relationship difficulties. Because the survey runs annually with comparable questions, analysts can identify whether certain attitudes correlate with higher risk behaviours over time or whether particular consequences appear more frequently among specific age groups or regions. The Commission presents these findings as official statistics that stakeholders can use to monitor the effectiveness of existing safeguards and to inform future measures aimed at reducing harm without disrupting the stable participation trends already observed.

Policy Relevance and Data Continuity

Three years of continuous data now allow the Commission and other bodies to conduct robust trend analysis, which supports evidence-based decision making in areas such as licensing conditions, consumer protection tools and targeted education campaigns. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (Annual Report 2025) supplies the raw material for such work by maintaining consistent question sets and sample sizes that minimise methodological noise. Stakeholders including treatment providers, academics and operators gain access to the same underlying dataset, which reduces conflicting interpretations that sometimes arise when different organisations collect smaller or less comparable samples.

Conclusion

The third annual release establishes a foundation for ongoing monitoring that will extend beyond 2025, giving regulators and researchers the longitudinal view needed to assess whether future policy adjustments produce measurable changes in participation or harm indicators. With participation and problem gambling rates holding steady, attention can shift toward finer-grained analysis of subgroups and product types where concentrated risks may still exist. The partnership approach and large sample size continue to position the survey as a central reference point for anyone examining gambling patterns across Great Britain in the years ahead.