The UK Gambling Commission posted on Tuesday a new data report on gambling participation as well as on the most prominent patterns and attitudes among UK gambling customers in 2016. The study also includes information about how gambling activities, both ones conducted in brick-and-mortar facilities and online, are perceived by players.
Data shows that 48.4% of all the survey respondents have gambled in the four weeks prior to being interviewed. The figure reflects an increase from 44.8% in 2015. More than a half (52.6%) of all male respondents have participated in any gambling activity, a rise from 49.1% from 2015, while 44.3% of female interviewees have said that they have gambled in the past four weeks. People aged 45-54 and 55-64 have been the most active gambling groups, with 52.6% and 52.7% of all respondents saying that they have engaged in gambling activities during the reviewed period.
The National Lottery’s products have proved to be the most popular among gambling customers. Of those surveyed, 30% have answered that they have played the National Lottery. The figure posted represents a slight decrease from 2015, when 32.3% of all respondents pointed National Lottery draws as the gambling activity they had engaged the most in over the reviewed period.
Gaming machines at betting shops around the country have been pointed by 1.5% of those surveyed, a 0.5% rise from a year earlier. Online gambling participation has, too, increased to 17.3% in 2016 from 14.5% in 2015.
When asked about how frequently they have engaged in any gambling activity, the greater portion of all respondents (35.3%) have said that they have gambled once a week. The figure posted reflects a decrease from the prior year, when 39% of the respondents gave that same answer.
As reported by the UK Gambling Commission late last year, online gambling has turned into the country’s largest gambling sector, accounting for a third of overall gross gambling yield generated in the period between April 2015 and March 2016. The results from the regulator’s latest participation study come as a further affirmation to the trend.
The figures posted show that 55% of all online gambling customers have used their laptops to gamble on in 2016, down 6% from a year earlier; around 43% of the interviewees have gambled on hand-held devices.
The Gambling Commission’s report also contains problem gambling statistics to raise awareness to an issue the regulator as well as different organizations have been paying special attention to. Of all surveyed, 0.7% have been identified as people with problem gambling behavior in 2016, a slight increase from 0.5% from the previous year; 5.5% have been identified as people at risk of becoming gambling addicts.
The complete results from the gambling regulator’s survey can be found here.
