UK Gambling Commission Publishes Third Annual GSGB Report Highlighting Stable Problem Gambling Rates

The UK Gambling Commission has released the third annual report from its Gambling Survey for Great Britain, drawing on responses collected throughout 2025 from more than 20,000 participants, and the publication marks the first time three consecutive years of official trend data exist for gambling participation, behaviours, attitudes, and harms across the country.

Researchers designed the survey to track patterns consistently year after year, which allows direct comparison of figures rather than isolated snapshots, and the latest release therefore supplies a clearer picture of how gambling activity has evolved since the initial wave.

Survey Scope and Methodology

Officials gathered responses through a combination of online panels and address-based sampling to reach a broad cross-section of adults in England, Scotland, and Wales, while the resulting dataset covers self-reported gambling involvement alongside standardised measures of harm such as the Problem Gambling Severity Index, or PGSI, and the scale produces scores that classify participants into categories ranging from non-problematic to severe risk.

Because the same instrument has now run for three full years, analysts can examine whether participation rates have shifted, whether attitudes toward gambling have changed, and whether the prevalence of harms has moved in any measurable direction.

Problem Gambling Rates Remain Steady

Figures from the 2025 wave show the proportion of respondents scoring eight or higher on the PGSI held at 2.4 percent, matching the level recorded in each of the previous two years, and this stability indicates that the rate of problem gambling has not increased despite ongoing changes in product availability and marketing across remote and land-based channels.

Additional PGSI bands also remained consistent, which gives regulators and treatment providers a reliable baseline against which future movements can be judged, while the absence of significant year-on-year fluctuation suggests that existing harm-minimisation measures have maintained their overall effect during the period under review.

First Three-Year Trend Data Now Available

With the arrival of the third annual dataset, observers gain access to consecutive trend lines on key indicators for the first time, and this continuity enables identification of gradual shifts that single-year reports could not reveal, such as slow changes in participation frequency or evolving perceptions of risk among different age groups.

The commission notes that these longitudinal statistics will support more precise evaluation of policy interventions introduced between 2023 and 2025, and the data will also feed into ongoing work on safer gambling messaging and support service planning.

Insights into Motivations for Gambling

Beyond prevalence and harm metrics, the survey collected detailed responses on why people choose to gamble, and participants cited a range of reasons including social interaction, entertainment value, and the possibility of winning money, with responses varying according to product type and demographic characteristics.

Analysts cross-referenced these motivations with PGSI scores to explore whether certain drivers correlate more strongly with elevated risk, and the resulting patterns will inform targeted communications that address specific reasons for play rather than applying uniform messaging across all groups.

Implications for Policy and Research

Regulators now hold three years of comparable official statistics that can underpin evidence-based adjustments to licensing conditions and consumer protection requirements, while treatment providers gain clearer signals about the scale and stability of demand for support services, and academics receive a robust dataset for secondary analysis on topics ranging from demographic differences to product-specific risks.

The commission has indicated that future waves will continue to use the same core questions to preserve trend integrity, although additional modules may be added to capture emerging issues such as new game formats or changes in advertising exposure.

Conclusion

The third annual Gambling Survey for Great Britain supplies the first sustained view of gambling behaviours and harms across three consecutive years, with problem gambling rates holding steady at 2.4 percent and fresh detail emerging on participant motivations, according to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (Annual Report 2025) – Official statistics, and these figures will shape regulatory priorities and research agendas throughout 2026 and beyond.