New Gambling Survey Research Reveals How Design Choices Skew Results

The UK Gambling Commission has published new research highlighting how different survey designs can significantly impact the measurement of gambling participation and harm; particularly the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) ratings  .

Key Findings:

Invitations that explicitly mention “gambling” did not affect survey response rates. However, they did result in a 4 percentage-point increase in reported gambling participation - suggesting individuals with an interest in gambling are more likely to take part when the topic is made clear.

Mode of Survey Delivery Influences Honesty

Respondents were 4.4 percentage points more likely to score “1 or above” on the PGSI when completing the survey online (self-completion) compared to telephone interviews. This indicates that interviewer presence likely leads to under-reporting of problematic gambling behaviours.

Updated Gambling Activity Lists Have Little Impact

Expanding the list of gambling activities to include newer products such as those added in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB)—did not significantly alter participation or PGSI scores.

Ben Haden, Director of Research and Policy at the Gambling Commission, praised the findings for enhancing confidence in GSGB outputs and aiding understanding of survey variations. He confirmed that these insights will inform ongoing methodological improvements.

Professor Patrick Sturgis (London School of Economics) emphasized the study’s experimental design as providing strong causal evidence, marking an important step toward understanding inconsistencies across gambling surveys

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14 August 2025

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