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 gamblingFurther information about the series can be found on the Gambling Commission's British Gambling Prevalence Surveys web pages.British Gambling Prevalence Survey, 1999 is the first survey in the series. The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) was commissioned by GamCare to carry out the first-ever survey of the Lottery and other gambling activities in Britain. GamCare is a national charity that promotes responsible gambling and monitors the social impact of gambling. In 1999, after the National Lottery was created and a wide range of gambling activities were available, this study was designed to find out who gambles, and on what. Most people enjoy gambling, and do so within sensible limits. A small number, however, get into severe problems with their gambling. Therefore an important aspect of this survey was to examine rates of problem gambling among the British population and to assess which gambling activities cause problems and for whom.Main Topics:The main topics covered were:participation in gambling in the past 12 months (module A)participation in gambling in the past 7 days (including frequency, venue and expenditure) (module B) attitudes to gambling and problem gambling screens (module C) personal and family gambling behaviour and socio-demographic questions (module D)