UK Gambling Commission Releases GSGB Trends Report Comparing 2023 and 2025 Participation Data

The UK Gambling Commission has issued its official GSGB Trends report that places side-by-side key survey estimates drawn from the 2023 and 2025 annual reports, and the move coincides with publication of the full GSGB Annual Report 2025. This single document supplies updated official statistics on participation levels, behaviours, and attitudes across Great Britain. Data collection for the latest wave ran from January 2025 through January 2026, which means the headline participation figure now reflects activity measured in that twelve-month window.

Core Participation Statistic

According to the trends comparison, 47 percent of adults in Great Britain reported having gambled in the past four weeks. The figure stands as the central benchmark in the new release, and observers note that it allows direct year-on-year tracking against the earlier 2023 baseline. The report presents the number without additional interpretation, leaving analysts to examine shifts in specific product categories and demographic groups through the accompanying tables.

Report Structure and Scope

The GSGB Trends report organises its findings into sections that cover overall participation, frequency of play, preferred gambling formats, and public attitudes toward regulation. Researchers compiled responses from a large-scale survey that uses consistent methodology across both years, which enables straightforward percentage-point comparisons. The full GSGB Annual Report 2025 expands on these headline numbers with detailed cross-tabulations and methodological notes, all hosted on the Gambling Commission website.

Data Collection Timeline

Fieldwork for the 2025 wave began in January 2025 and concluded in January 2026, producing a rolling twelve-month dataset that captures seasonal patterns across an entire calendar year. The earlier 2023 wave followed an identical schedule, so seasonal effects remain aligned when readers compare the two periods. Commission statisticians emphasise that this alignment reduces distortion when trends are calculated, and the published tables flag any minor weighting adjustments applied to maintain sample representativeness.

Access and Presentation

Both the trends comparison and the full annual report sit on the Gambling Commission’s statistics and research pages, where users can download spreadsheets alongside the main narrative documents. The Commission presents the material in a neutral format that lists percentages, sample sizes, and confidence intervals without commentary on policy implications. Those who study the material find clear navigation between the 2023 baseline columns and the 2025 update columns, which simplifies extraction of change-over-time metrics.

Context Within Broader Statistical Releases

The August 2026 publication round marks the second occasion on which the Commission has issued a dedicated trends document alongside its annual report. Previous practice involved releasing annual snapshots in isolation, whereas the new approach supplies explicit bridging tables that link the two survey years. The change responds to user feedback requesting easier longitudinal analysis, and the Commission has indicated that future waves will follow the same paired-release model.

Key Variables Tracked

Beyond the headline 47 percent participation rate, the report tracks variables such as online versus in-person play, average session length, and self-reported awareness of responsible gambling tools. Each variable appears in matched 2023 and 2025 columns so that percentage-point differences can be read at a glance. The accompanying annual report adds further breakdowns by age band, gender, and geographic region within Great Britain, maintaining the same consistent question wording used in prior waves.

Conclusion

The release of the GSGB Trends report together with the full GSGB Annual Report 2025 supplies a consolidated data resource that covers the period January 2025 to January 2026. The central participation estimate of 47 percent of adults provides the anchor point for comparisons against the 2023 baseline, while the broader dataset offers additional detail on behaviours and attitudes. Readers seeking the source material can locate both documents through the Gambling Commission’s official statistics portal, where the linked Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB): Trends report 2023 to 2025 remains available for direct download.