On 22 May 2025, the Gambling Commission welcomed the findings from the Office for Statistics Regulation’s (“OSR”) review of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

The GSGB

In July 2024, the Gambling Commission published the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (the “GSGB”), which sets out the Gambling Commission’s official statistics on gambling behaviours in Great Britain. After several years of extensive development, the Gambling Commission asked 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.

OSR review of the GSGB

OSR published a public statement and comprehensive review of the GSGB and provided a series of important recommendations to further enhance its reliability and user engagement.

According to OSR, the absence of accredited official statistics status does not imply the GSGB is of lower quality or reliability than other surveys which have “accredited official statistics” status, and that the decision on which one to use should be based on user need and not accreditation status. OSR acknowledged how the Gambling Commission had presented clear and impartial information about the strengths and limitations of the methodological approach and statistical uncertainty of survey estimates.

While the Gambling Commission had already acted on several areas outlined in the report based on earlier feedback, the Gambling Commission has confirmed it will provide a further, fuller update in July 2025 in line with OSR’s request. The Gambling Commission has noted that its guidance for users of the GSGB was updated in February 2025, with clearer examples and dedicated contact channels for questions or concerns. The Gambling Commission has also committed to promoting this guidance more widely and embedding it across all future releases.

OSR noted that communication and user engagement will be critical to the GSGB’s ongoing success. In response, the Gambling 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.

Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics at the Gambling Commission, 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.”

Other recommendations

The Gambling Commission has noted that further improvements are underway in line with recommendations from the independent review of the GSGB by Professor Patrick Sturgis of the London School of Economics and Political Science. An experimental research project was launched by the Gambling Commission in April 2025 to test specific aspects of the GSGB’s methodology, and 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 that the Gambling Commission confirms it has 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; and
• improvements to accessibility and usability of GSGB outputs which links to guidance added to statistical outputs released on 22 May 2025.

Other recommendations that the Gambling Commission says it will action:

• comparisons with forthcoming datasets from the Health Survey for England and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, due in 2025;
• publication of a communications strategy to improve how GSGB updates are shared; and
• ongoing improvements to accessibility and usability of GSGB outputs to be informed by GSGB stats user group.

The Gambling Commission highlights its continued engagement 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. In addition, the Gambling Commission stated that a full log of requests to the GSGB statistics from stakeholders has been published as part of its transparency agenda and will be updated quarterly.

The Gambling Commission encourages stakeholders to complete the GSGB Statistics User Group Sign Up Form to learn more about the GSGB or to express interest in joining the user group.

Please let us know if you have any questions on the above and sign up to our blog to receive updates on the continued journey of the GSGB.