1.3 Million Britons Now Classed as Problem Gamblers, UKGC Survey Reveals

For years, Britain’s understanding of who gambles and who gets hurt by it has leaned heavily on data supplied by the industry itself – operator figures, treatment service intake numbers, helpline call logs. Useful, but partial. The Gambling Commission’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) was built to close that gap, going directly to the public rather than working backwards from industry records. Now in its third year, the 2025 edition is the most complete national picture yet of British gambling habits – and it lands with a sobering headline: an estimated 1.3 million adults in Great Britain now meet the clinical threshold for problem gambling.

The 2025 UKGC report, published on July 16, first maps out who gambles and why, then turns to the harder question of what it costs them. Read together, they tell a story familiar to anyone who has followed the gambling reform debate of the last few years: a pastime that is, for most people, harmless entertainment, and for a significant minority, something closer to a health crisis hiding in plain sight.

How Britain Gambles

59% of adults aged 18 and over took part in some form of gambling in the past 12 months, and 47% had gambled in the past 4 weeks – figures that translate to roughly 31 million adults gambling annually and 25 million in the past month alone. Strip out those who only ever buy a lottery ticket, though, and the picture shifts sharply: just 40% had gambled in the past year and 27% in the past 4 weeks once lottery-only players were excluded.

The National Lottery remains Britain’s default gambling activity by a wide margin – 31% of participants had bought a ticket in the past 4 weeks, ahead of charity lotteries (16%) and scratchcards (12%). But that ranking flips for younger and male participants, who were more likely to bet on sports and racing online than to buy a scratchcard. Online gambling now edges out in-person activity overall, with 38% of participants gambling online in the past month versus 28% in person – though once lottery purchases are excluded, the online and in-person figures converge to 16% and 17% respectively.

The demographic split is telling. Middle-aged Britons gamble the most, with 53% of 45- to 54-year-olds and 55% of 55- to 64-year-olds active in the past 4 weeks, while 18- to 24-year-olds were the least likely to gamble at just 33%. But flip the lens to exclude lottery draws, and the young overtake everyone: gambling participation excluding lottery-only players was highest among 25- to 44-year-olds at 33% and fell steadily with age to just 14% among those 75 and over. Younger gamblers are also the most varied in their habits – 18- to 24-year-olds took part in a mean of 3.9 different gambling activities once lottery-only players were excluded, compared with just 2.6 among the over-75s.

Why People Gamble – And How They Feel About It

Unsurprisingly, most people say they gamble for the thrill of a windfall: 84% cited the chance of winning big money as a reason they gamble, 69% said it was simply fun, 57% said it was about making money, and 53% pointed to the excitement. Asked to rate their most recent gambling experience on a 0-to-10 scale from “hated it” to “loved it,” 42% gave a positive score, 22% a negative one, and 36% landed squarely in the middle. For most people, in other words, gambling remains exactly what it’s marketed as: a low-stakes, mildly enjoyable pastime. The survey’s real value lies in identifying the minority for whom it isn’t.

The Cost Behind the Numbers

The survey’s companion report on consequences is where the picture darkens. Using the internationally recognised Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), 2.4% of all adults – an estimated 1.3 million people in Great Britain – scored 8 or higher, the threshold for problem gambling, while a further 3.5% showed moderate-risk signs. Among people who’d actually gambled in the past year, the numbers climb higher still: 4.0% scored in the problem gambling range.

Age is the single biggest risk factor. 10.4% of 18- to 24-year-old gamblers scored 8 or more on the index, compared with just 0.8% of those 75 and older – a more than twelvefold gap between Britain’s youngest and oldest gamblers.

Men also fare worse than women: 5.3% of male gamblers scored in the problem range against 2.7% of women. And where you live matters too – in England, problem gambling rates were 4.5% in the most deprived areas versus 1.2% in the least deprived, with a similar gap of 4.6% to 1.3% recorded in Scotland.

Certain activities carry outsized risk. Problem gambling rates were ten times higher among people betting in person on non-sports events – things like elections or TV show outcomes – than the average gambler, and at least five times higher among those playing casino games, online slots, football pools, and online bingo.

When Gambling Turns Harmful

Among people who’d gambled in the past year, 2.7% reported experiencing at least one severe consequence – defined by the survey as relationship breakdown, loss of something of significant financial value, violence or abuse, or crime – with relationship breakdown the most commonly cited at 1.7%. Younger gamblers were hit hardest: 5.5% of 18- to 34-year-olds reported a severe consequence, compared with just 0.7% of those 55 and over. Beyond the severe end, more everyday strains were common too: 6.4% of past-year gamblers said they’d cut back on everyday spending because of their gambling, 5.9% admitted lying to family about it, and 5.8% had dipped into savings or borrowed money to fund it.

The survey also asked about suicidal thoughts, a difficult but important measure of harm. 11.3% of all participants said they had thought about or attempted to take their own life in the past 12 months, and of those, 4.6% said this was related to their gambling, at least a little. Men who linked their thoughts to gambling did so more than twice as often as women – 9.9% versus 4.2%. The Commission notes this figure sits higher than comparable NHS survey data, a gap it attributes partly to differences in how the two surveys are administered rather than a definitive rise in prevalence – but even accounting for that, it’s a stark marker of how closely gambling harm and mental health crises can be entangled.

The Ripple Effect

Gambling’s reach extends well beyond the person placing the bet. 43.2% of all participants said someone close to them gambled, and among that group, 4.8% reported experiencing a severe consequence as a result – most often relationship breakdown, at 3.3%. Short of that, the everyday toll was more widespread still: 10.8% reported health problems like stress and anxiety linked to someone else’s gambling, 10.0% reported embarrassment, guilt, or shame, and 8.7% reported conflict or arguments.

A Help-Seeking Gap

Despite the scale of harm, help-seeking remains rare until problems are severe. Just 3.4% of people who’d gambled in the past year had sought support for it – but that figure rose sharply with severity, from 0.8% among those with no PGSI symptoms to 47.3% among those scoring 8 or more. A similar pattern held for those affected by someone else’s gambling, of whom just 3.3% had sought any form of support.

Taken as a whole, the 2025 GSGB doesn’t upend what researchers already suspected about British gambling – that it’s a mainstream activity for the majority and a serious health issue for a determined minority. What it does is put hard, population-level numbers behind that suspicion, at a moment when regulators, operators, and campaigners are all watching closely for exactly this kind of evidence to shape the next round of gambling policy.

If you or someone you know is struggling with gambling or experiencing thoughts of self-harm, support is available around the clock via GambleAware on 0808 8020 133 (England and Scotland) or 0808 2819 265 (Wales), or through the Samaritans on 116 123.

RELATED TOPICS: Responsible Gambling