The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has released data for the first quarter ending June 30, 2025, and discussed new methods for the Great Britain Gambling Survey (GSGB). Despite a reduction in the maximum stake for online slots to 5 pounds for adults and 2 pounds for teenagers, the sector's total gross gaming yield (GGY) still saw a significant increase of 14% to 745 million pounds, with the number of spins increasing by 8% to 24.4 billion, both setting records, driving the total online gambling GGY up by 2% to 1.49 billion pounds.
However, the GGY for real event betting fell by 9% to 570 million pounds, with the volume of bets down 7%, and the number of active monthly accounts decreased by 16%; poker GGY slid by 19.9% to 11.3 million pounds, with the volume of bets dropping from 1.709 billion to 1.439 billion; and the GGY for gambling venues fell by 5% to 552 million pounds, with total bets and spins decreasing by 3% to 3.2 billion.
In terms of online sessions, the number of sessions lasting over an hour decreased by 9% to 8.8 million, with the average duration dropping to 16 minutes, below the 17 minutes of the first quarter of 2024 and the 26 minutes of 2019.
In the survey aspect, after the release of GSGB last year, the rate of problem gambling jumped from 0.5% to 2.5%, sparking controversy over methodology. Professor Patrick Sturgis from the London School of Economics pointed out that the new survey title directly mentioning gambling might attract more related individuals; and the shift from telephone interviews to online self-reporting caused the PGSI scores to surge nearly 50%, reflecting the disappearance of the interviewer's inhibitory effect. The study suggests that the UKGC update its interpretation guidelines to more accurately explain the differences from earlier health surveys. The UKGC has confirmed that it will adopt this recommendation.
