Earlier this year, the Gambling Commission consulted on proposals to change the way it collects participation and prevalence statistics, a set of statistics which capture levels of gambling activity, problem gambling rate and gambling participation in Great Britain.

Following responses from a range of stakeholders to the consultation, a competitive tender process was launched to appoint a research partner to lead the pilot phase of the project, with a consortium of NatCen Social Research and the University of Glasgow being appointed.

The Commission says that NatCen Social Research and the University of Glasgow, in partnership with Bryson Purdon Social Research, will be testing a new methodology for collecting participation and prevalence statistics, including information on broader gambling harms.

The pilot, which will run between October 2021 and March 2022, will involve stakeholder engagement, cognitive testing and a pilot survey using a new push to web methodology where participants will complete the survey online. All data will be evaluated once the pilot has been concluded and recommendations will be set for the next stage.

If the pilot is successful, the Commission says that it will continue to evaluate and develop the new approach with the aim of rolling it out on a continuous basis which will see the introduction of a single population survey for the whole of Great Britain and give the Commission the ability to gain timely insights and respond to emerging trends. To read the Commission’s news release in full, click here.