Office for Statistics Regulation recommends changes to Gambling Survey for Great Britain

On 22 May 2025, The Office for Statistics Regulation (‘OSR’) published their review of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (‘The Review’).

The Review was requested by the Gambling Commission to assess the Gambling Survey for Great Britain statistics (‘GSGB)’) against the Code of Practice for Statistics. The GSGB collects the Commission’s official statistics on gambling behaviours in Great Britain.

The Review makes nine recommendations that the Gambling Commission should address to more strongly align the GSGB with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The recommendations include developing a plan to communicate how Professor Sturgis’ recommendations will be actioned, providing information on quality assurance and validation processes and broadening its stakeholder network.

The full recommendations as stated by the OSR are as follows:-

Recommendation 1: To improve user confidence in the GSGB, the Gambling Commission should develop a more detailed and comprehensive improvement plan to communicate how Professor Sturgis’ recommendations will be actioned.

Recommendation 2: To assure users and enhance confidence in the GSGB data, the Gambling Commission should provide more detailed information on its quality assurance and validation processes.

Recommendation 3: To support appropriate interpretation and use of the GSGB data, the Gambling Commission should:

• clearly communicate to users within the statistical releases the potential biases that may affect the GSGB estimates, the possible impact of these, and Professor Sturgis’ conclusion regarding the risk that the statistics potentially overestimate some gambling behaviours
• explain what the statistics can and can’t be used for, and why
• ensure that guidance on how to use the statistics is easy to find and tailored to different users, such as the media

Recommendation 4: To support user understanding of the GSGB’s role in the broader gambling data landscape, the Gambling Commission should do more to investigate the coherence and comparability of GSGB statistics with other relevant data, such as from the Health Survey for England and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey that will be published later in 2025, and communicate these findings to users.

Recommendation 5: To ensure that user needs are sought, documented and considered, the Gambling Commission should create and implement a GSGB user engagement strategy. This strategy should detail specific activities and how users will be involved at various stages of the survey’s future developments.

Recommendation 6: To build trust with users, the Gambling Commission should remain open to receiving challenge, provide feedback to users on their contributions and clearly communicate what can and cannot be addressed in the development of the GSGB statistics.

Recommendation 7: To benefit future statistics development and address diverse stakeholder needs, the Gambling Commission should broaden its stakeholder network and collaborate further with official statistics producers.

Recommendation 8: To improve the effectiveness of its communication, the Gambling Commission should publish a communication strategy detailing how it will approach sharing GSGB updates with users and stakeholders, taking user preferences into account where possible.

Recommendation 9: To enhance the usability and accessibility of GSGB outputs, the Gambling Commission should consider how it can align further development of these statistics, including the detail that is provided and how it is presented, with user needs.

The OSR have indicated that The Gambling Commission are expected to respond publicly to this report by July 2025, setting out its proposed actions and progress against each of the OSR recommendations stated here.

The full review can be read here.

For further information on this or any other licensing issues, please contact licensing solicitor, Elizabeth Varley on e.varley@popall.co.uk or call 07932 331 831.