The percentage of people gambling in the UK remained flat during Q3 at 48%, though Gambling Commission (GC) CEO Andrew Rhodes believes a significant uptick in free prize draws could be cannibalizing the licensed lottery vertical.
GSGB gambling participation
Some 4,675 adults were surveyed for wave three of the GC’s GSGB, covering the three months to the end of October. The GSGB reports that 48% of respondents gambled at some point in the previous four weeks, level with both Q1 and Q2.
Commenting on the data during the Betting and Gaming Council’s AGM on 27 February, Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes noted a significant rise in activity on free prize draws, which are not regulated under the Lotteries Act and therefore not featured in the data or even considered gambling by law.
"We’ve seen the growth of large scale prize draws and that growth has been very significant,” Rhodes told BGC members.
"We’ve also seen society lottery sales go over the £1 billion mark for the first time.”
He noted that price draw products are experiencing a participation level that is much higher than that of other gambling products, or products regulated as gambling.
"It’s getting close to being on a par with betting in terms of participation, also in terms of the average spending,” Rhodes said.
On the value of the GSGB data, Rhodes said these surveys, which have been collecting data since 2023, provide an insight into which products consumers are engaging with.
https://igamingbusiness.com/lottery/free-prize-draws-cannibalization-gsgb-uk-gambling-participation-q3/