UK Gambling Commission publishes statistics on participation in remote gambling

The UK Gambling Commission recently published the first of a new statistical series which will provide a snapshot of participation in remote gambling, including online gambling, in Britain.

The improved measure allows the Commission to distinguish between the full range of remote gambling methods, personal computer, mobile phone and interactive TV. It also allows participation in the full range of gambling activities available through these remote methods to be measured, access to which have all increased in recent years.

The document entitled ‘ Survey Data on Remote Gambling Participation’ is available on in full from the Gambling Commission’s website here.  

A brief summary of the surveys key findings;

• In 2006 just under 8% of adults surveyed said they had participated in at least one form of remote gambling (through a computer, mobile phone or interactive/digital TV) in the previous month. The remaining 92% of respondents said they had not participated in any form of remote gambling.
• Those participating in remote gambling are more likely to be male than female and are more likely to be aged 18-34.
• If those only playing the National Lottery remotely are excluded, under 6% of respondents had participated in remote gambling. Overall, more than 5% of respondents said they had gambled remotely on the National Lottery in the previous month (either only or in addition to other types of gambling activity).
• Remote gambling via a computer, laptop or handheld device was most popular (5.2% of all adult respondents), followed by gambling via mobile phone (over 2%) and interactive/digital TV (under 2%).