Dear Tim
Review of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB)
Today we have published our compliance review of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), produced by the Gambling Commission. Thank you for inviting us to undertake this review, which has assessed the GSGB statistics against the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The overall aim of the review is to make recommendations for improvements to the GSGB statistics; it is not an assessment of whether accredited official statistics status is appropriate. As such, the report sets out nine recommendations which are intended to assist the Gambling Commission in refining the GSGB statistics and better aligning with the Code of Practice for Statistics. These recommendations are included in Annex A.
We expect the Gambling Commission to respond publicly to this review by July 2025, setting out its proposed actions and progress against each of the OSR recommendations. I understand that the Gambling Commission has already started to take action to address some of our findings and recommendations; I welcome this proactive approach and encourage the Commission to publicly set out the progress it has made. I look forward to seeing the outcomes of the continued development of the GSGB.
I would like to thank your team for its positive engagement during the review process. If you would like to discuss any aspects of this letter or the accompanying compliance review, please get in touch.
I am copying this letter to Helen Bryce, Head of Statistics, and Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics.
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR
Annex A – Review Recommendations
Based on the findings of this report, we have identified nine recommendations that the Gambling Commission should address:
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.