New UK Study of Gambling Trends

The UK Gambling Commission - the watchdog of gambling activity throughout the United Kingdom, has released its latest UK gambling prevalence study. The research was independently conducted by the specialist marketing service ICM Research. Among others, the findings suggest that remote gambling has enjoyed a bumper year, in spite of difficulties in global financial markets.

The survey of some 4,000 adults revealed interesting facts. Chief among them is the news that the National Lottery products are all the rage in the UK. Some 472 of 4,000 respondents participated in at least 1 form of online gambling in the past 4 weeks (from the time of the survey). At least 236 of them said that their preferred form of online gambling was the National Lottery.

The Numbers Add Up

When these figures are compared with the 2010 calendar year, then the percentages speak volumes about the definite growth in the online gaming sector. Compared to 2010, the number of respondents who have participated in online gaming has increased to 11.8% (2011) as opposed to 11.1% (2010), 10.5% (2009), 9.7% (2008), 8.8% (2007) and 7.2% (2006). While the jump is smaller over the past calendar year, the absolute numbers remain positive and are growing.

Lotteries Take the Cake

The main emphasis of the gambling statistics comes from the number of respondents participating in the lotteries. If lottery stats are excluded, then only 5.9% of those surveyed have participated in remote gaming up until June 2011. This figure is still up from 5.7% in 2010 & 2009, 5.6% in 2008, 5.2% in 2007 and 5.1% in 2006. Overall this shows a steady rise of 0.8% from 2006 levels: which is 32 players more when 4,000 are surveyed.

Other Interesting Stats

9.1% of respondents admitted to purchasing National Lottery tickets in the past 4 weeks, during the year to June 2011. Stats show that it is mostly males from 18 to 44 years of age engaged in remote gaming. And of those involved in the study, some 10.5% used handheld devices, laptops or computers. Mobile phones accounted for 3.2% and digital television some 1.4%.

Between June 2011 and September 2010 the average figures suggest that almost 57% of the 4,000 adults surveyed had engaged in at least 1 form of land gambling in the past 4 weeks. This figure is up from 2010 (56.7%) and 2009 (55.2%). The numbers don't lie and it was the lottery that most folks enjoyed (46.3%), good cause lottos (11.6%) and scratchcards (10.7%). Other stats reflect the following:

• Bingo - 3.4%
• Horses - 4.6%
• Fruit/Slot Machines - 3.3%

The bulk of respondents were males over the age of 45.