The UK Gambling Commission has told NEXT.io that it does “not recognise” claims it is about to knowingly publish inaccurate results in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.
The third edition of the GSGB is scheduled for release on 16 July 2026, following previous publications that have attracted criticism over their methodological approach.
Allegations of sampling bias have followed the survey since its first edition was published in July 2024, creating persistent tension between the regulator and its critics.
In 2024, Professor Patrick Sturgis of LSE published an independent review finding that GSGB participants may have included a disproportionately high number of gamblers relative to the wider British population.
That imbalance, according to the review, could have inflated the problem gambling statistics produced by the survey and made them unrepresentative of the true national picture.
The Commission told NEXT.io: “We recognise that all survey methodologies have strengths and limitations, and we have been transparent about those throughout the development of the GSGB.”
In August 2025, the regulator committed to implementing some of Professor Sturgis’s recommendations, and it has now offered further detail on how those changes appear in the upcoming release.
A spokesperson confirmed the report is “based on responses from around 20,000 adults each year” and that Professor Sturgis himself “concluded that moving to this methodology was the correct decision given the changing survey landscape.”
On transparency, the Commission stated: “Throughout the development of the GSGB we have published detailed technical information, been open about the survey’s strengths and limitations, and engaged extensively with stakeholders and independent experts.”
The most significant point of contention remains the gap between the GSGB’s problem gambling figures and those produced by the NHS Health Survey.
The NHS Health Survey indicates that 0.7% of the population suffer from problem gambling, a figure favoured by critics including the Betting and Gaming Council.
The most recent GSGB edition, by contrast, found that 2.7% of participants scored eight or higher on the problem gambling severity index, indicating adverse effects from gambling.
The Commission responded directly to that discrepancy, saying: “The GSGB and previous NHS-led surveys use different methodologies and should not be treated as directly comparable.”
It encouraged policymakers to “consider the GSGB alongside other evidence, including operator data, treatment data and wider research, to build the fullest possible picture of gambling behaviour and gambling-related harm.”
The regulator firmly rejected suggestions that concerns about the data have been ignored or that the findings are known to be unreliable.
A spokesperson said: “The methodology has been independently scrutinised and provides an important source of evidence for understanding gambling behaviour in Great Britain.”
The Commission added that it “continues to review and improve the methodology as new evidence emerges,” signalling that the survey remains an evolving instrument rather than a fixed product.
What problem gambling figure tomorrow’s publication will report remains to be seen, but the regulator has made clear it stands behind the research framework underpinning the results.
