Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The British Gambling Prevalence Survey is a large-scale nationally representative survey of participation in gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling in Great Britain.

The aims of the survey series are:

• measure the prevalence of participation in all forms of commercial and private gambling (including estimates of expenditure and information on venue)
• estimate the prevalence of ‘problem gambling’ and look at which activities have the highest prevalence of ‘problem gamblers’
• investigate the socio-demographic factors associated with gambling and with ‘problem gambling’
• assess attitudes towards gambling

Further information about the series can be found on the Gambling Commission's British Gambling Prevalence Surveys web pages.

The British Gambling Prevalence Survey, 2010 is the third survey in the series. The aims of the survey were to provide data on participation in all forms of gambling in Great Britain, the prevalence of problem gambling, attitudes to gambling and to explore a range of associations with gambling behaviour. The 2010 study is the first in the series to be conducted after the full implementation of the Gambling Act 2005. Therefore, a further objective was to, where possible, provide some comparisons pre and post implementation of the Gambling Act 2005.

Main Topics:

The individual questionnaire was broadly split into seven sections:

• leisure activities
• participation in gambling activities in the past 12 months
• frequency, mode and gambling volume among past year gamblers
• participation in gambling activities in the past seven days
• changes in gambling behaviour
• problem gambling
• reasons for gambling
• attitudes to gambling
• health and lifestyle correlates