UK gambling participation remains flat, with a third of players choosing non-lottery categories

The UK Gambling Commission has released a new report, an annual survey of the participation of the public in gambling. This year, the survey covered 5,191 people, up 8% on last year’s 4,801.

According to the report, participation among adults in gambling from January to April 2024 remained flat at 48%, the same as last year. However, if lottery games are excluded, participation fell to 27%.

At the same time, 16% of survey participants said that they gambled online, using a computer or mobile applications. Among men, this figure reached 20%, while among women - 13%. The most active age group among men were players aged 35 to 44, where 29% of them played online games.

Individual gambling, including visiting casinos and other establishments, also remained at the same level - 29%. However, if we exclude players who participate only in lotteries, this figure dropped to 18%.

Men and women were approximately equally distributed in terms of their level of participation in gambling: 51% of men and 45% of women played in the last four weeks. However, when excluding lotteries, participation among men dropped to 30%, among women - to 24%.

The lottery, as in previous years, remains the most popular form of gambling: 32% of all participants played the lottery. In second place in popularity are charity lotteries with 16%. Sports betting, including online and offline, showed a slight decline - 9% against 10% last year. While casino games and slots attracted 3% and 4% of players, respectively.

The most popular category for betting was football - 7% of participants bet on football matches. Horse and dog racing took second place with 4%.

The majority of survey participants (85%) indicated that the main reason for playing was the desire to win big money. 71% admitted that they played for fun. About 53% of respondents noted that the excitement and excitement of the process were important factors for them, and 57% sought to make money from games. At the same time, last year the number of those who played for financial gain was 59%.

In general, the attitude towards gambling has changed little compared to last year. Of all survey participants, 37% rated their attitude toward gambling as average, while excluding lotteries, 32% remained neutral. Only 5% gave gambling the highest rating.