UK Gambling Commission Launches New Methodology Pilot to Study Adult Gambling Prevalence

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) moves to next phase of project to improve the quality of its adult gambling participation and prevalence statistics.

Earlier this year, the Gambling Commission consulted on proposals to change the way it collects participation and prevalence statistics, a set of statistics which capture levels of gambling activity, problem gambling rate and gambling participation in Great Britain.

Following responses from a range of stakeholders to the consultation, a competitive tender process was launched to appoint a research partner to lead the pilot phase of the project – with a consortium of NatCen Social Research and the University of Glasgow being appointed.

NatCen Social Research and the University of Glasgow in partnership with Bryson Purdon Social Research, will be testing a new methodology for collecting participation and prevalence statistics, including information on broader gambling harms.

The pilot, which will run between October 2021 and March 2022, will involve stakeholder engagement, cognitive testing and a pilot survey using a new push to web methodology where participants will complete the survey online. All data will be evaluated once the pilot has been concluded and recommendations will be set for the next stage.