Four-Year Deal: NatCen and Glasgow to Lead UK Gambling Survey

The new contract builds on several years of survey development, culminating in the launch of the GSGB in 2024 as the official statistics on gambling behaviours in Great Britain. Since its launch, the GSGB has become one of the largest and most comprehensive gambling surveys in the world.

The GSGB is already offering unprecedented insight into how people gamble, enabling the Commission to monitor behaviours over time and to publish in-depth thematic reports. These have included analyses of why people gamble, the characteristics of more frequent gamblers, and the relationship between specific gambling activities and Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores.

The Commission has given particular thanks to the University of Glasgow for its analytical contributions to these topical reports, which have deepened understanding of gambling behaviours across Great Britain.

Mari Toomse-Smith, Director of Health and Biomedical Surveys at the National Centre for Social Research, said: “We are honoured to have been trusted by the Gambling Commission to lead on the delivery of the GSGB. We worked closely with the Commission to design a state-of-the-art survey and are pleased to be able to continue the GSGB journey with the Gambling Commission and the University of Glasgow.

“GSGB plays a pivotal role at the UK gambling data infrastructure, and its potential will only grow with each new survey year.”

Professor Heather Wardle, said: “We are delighted to extend our contract with the Gambling Commission and our work on the GSGB. We’re excited to work with the Commission to explore how we can further enhance the GSGB, looking at how survey data can be merged with information about gambling from other sources, and looking at how we can better understand how behaviours change over time.

"We’re especially well placed to do this, having led methodological innovation on understanding gambling for the last 20 years”

Over the next four years, NatCen and the University of Glasgow will continue to refine and enhance the survey, supporting the Commission’s commitment to developing evidence and improving data quality.

As outlined in the Commission’s evidence roadmaps, this next phase will also explore the potential for using the GSGB for longitudinal research and data linkage—opening up new possibilities for understanding how gambling behaviours evolve over time.

Tim Miller, Executive Director of Research and Policy, said: “The Gambling Survey for Great Britain has already transformed our understanding of how people gamble, providing richer, more reliable insight than ever before. We are pleased to award this new contract to NatCen and the University of Glasgow, whose expertise has been central to the GSGB’s success so far.

“Over the next four years we’ll continue to strengthen the survey and expand what it can tell us—whether that’s through deeper analysis or exploring opportunities for longitudinal research. This work is fundamental to ensuring our regulation is rooted in the best possible evidence.”