UKGC Welcomes OSR Review of Gambling Survey for Great Britain

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has welcomed the findings from the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) regarding the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB).

Both the public statement and comprehensive review of the GSGB praised the development and transparency of the survey and provided a series of important recommendations to further enhance its reliability and user engagement.

Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics at the UKGC, said: “We welcome the findings from OSR, both the public statement regarding casework they have received in relation to GSGB and their overall review of the GSGB. We are pleased they recognise the huge amount of work that the team has put into developing and delivering the largest survey of its kind in the world. We also welcome OSR’s recommendations for further action, which closely align with work that we already have underway.”

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The GSGB collects the Commission’s official statistics on gambling behaviours in Great Britain. After several years of extensive development, the Commission asked the OSR to review GSGB against its standards in the Code of Practice for Statistics to support continual improvement and provide independent assurance on quality and transparency.

As OSR rightly states, the absence of accredited official statistics status does not imply the GSGB is of lower quality or reliability, despite some claims to the contrary. The decision on which one to use should be based on user need and not accreditation status.

It also acknowledged that the Commission has presented clear and impartial information about the strengths and limitations of the methodological approach and statistical uncertainty of survey estimates.

The Commission has already acted on several areas outlined in the report based on earlier feedback and will provide a further, fuller update in July in line with OSR’s request.

As part of its commitment to improvement, the Commission has already updated its guidance for users of the GSGB in February 2025, with clearer examples and dedicated contact channels for questions or concerns. The Commission has also committed to promoting this guidance more widely and embedding it across all future releases.

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The OSR noted that communication and user engagement will be critical to the GSGB’s ongoing success. In response, the Commission has announced plans to establish a GSGB Statistics User Group. Around 70 stakeholders have already expressed interest in joining the group, which will serve as a forum for dialogue, feedback, and shared learning.

Further improvements are underway in line with recommendations from Professor Sturgis’s independent review of the GSGB. An experimental research project was launched in April 2025 to test specific aspects of the survey’s methodology. Fieldwork is now in progress, with findings expected in Summer 2025. These results will inform the second GSGB annual report, due for publication on 2 October 2025.

Other recommendations already actioned:

• survey improvement plan updated with further information for users

• new survey questions designed to validate GSGB findings against external data sources such as Gamstop and the Bingo Association

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• improvements to accessibility and usability of GSGB outputs – links to guidance added to statistical outputs released on 22 May.

Other recommendations that will be actioned:

• comparisons with forthcoming datasets from the Health Survey for England and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, due later in 2025

• publication of a communications strategy to improve how GSGB updates are shared

• ongoing improvements to accessibility and usability of GSGB outputs to be informed by GSGB stats user group.

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The Commission continues to engage with other official statistics producers, including Ofcom, the Money and Pensions Service and devolved government agencies, and is reviewing user engagement frameworks to develop a formal user engagement strategy.