Some 4,675 adults were surveyed for the third wave of the Gambling Commission’s Great Britain Gambling Report (GSGB), which covered the three months ending in October. According to the GSGB, 48% of respondents gambled at some point in the previous four weeks, consistent with both Q1 and Q2.
During the Betting and Gaming Council’s AGM on 27 February, Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes commented on a significant rise in activity on free prize draws. These are not regulated under the Lotteries Act and therefore not included in the data or considered gambling by law.
“We’ve seen the growth of large-scale prize draws and that growth has been very significant,” Rhodes told BGC members. He also noted that society lottery sales have surpassed the £1 billion mark for the first time.
Prize draw products are seeing participation levels much higher than other gambling products or those regulated as gambling. “It’s getting close to being on a par with betting in terms of participation, also in terms of the average spending,” Rhodes said.
Regarding the value of the GSGB data, Rhodes stated that these surveys, which have been collecting data since 2023, provide insight into which products consumers are engaging with. “The frequency of the gambling survey for Great Britain allows us to see these movements with a much greater degree, a much greater frequency, than we did before,” he added.
There has been debate within the industry over whether free prize draws should be regulated by the Gambling Commission. Those in favor of licensed lottery believe these products have an unfair advantage by not adhering to the same rules on funding charities, while those on the free prize draw side argue their products are not as high-risk and should not be considered gambling.
### Lottery still king in the UK
Data for Q3, published yesterday (27 February), shows 20% of respondents only participated in lottery draws. This includes both the National Lottery and other licensed charity lottery draws, staying consistent with Q2. Without lottery-only players, overall gambling participation was 28%, the same as in Q2.
Again, male players aged 45 to 54 were the most active group during Q3. However, after removing lottery-only players, the largest group was male consumers aged 25 to 34.
Overall, women were more likely to have gambled. Some 56% of the total players active in the past four weeks were women, compared to 44% men.
National Lottery was the most popular form of gambling by a significant margin at 31%, ahead of charity lottery at 16%. Next came scratch cards at 22%, then sports betting at 10%, and online instant win games with 7%.
### Non-lottery online gambling down in Q3
Regarding how people gambled, the percentage playing online was 38%, slightly ahead of 37% in the preceding period. However, this figure drops to 15% when excluding all lottery-only players. The GSGB described this as a “significant decline” from the 17% reported in wave two, covering the Q2 period.
In terms of in-person activity, the participation rate fell from 29% in wave two to 28%. After removing all lottery-only players, the rate was 18%, consistent with wave two.
### Players continue to chase big wins
The reasons for gambling remain largely the same among active players. Among those who gambled in the past four weeks, the most popular reason was the “chance to win big money.” Others indicated they gambled because they see it as “fun.”
The next quarterly publication—wave four, covering the three months to December—will be released on 22 May. The percentage of people gambling in the UK remained steady during Q3 at 48%, though Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes believes a significant uptick in free prize draws could be cannibalizing the licensed lottery vertical.