Gambling Prevalence

Key points

In 2024, just under three-fifths of adults (57%) said they had gambled in the last 12 months, continuing the decreasing trend between the 2010 and 2016 surveys (80% and 67%, respectively).
The most popular method of gambling in 2024 was in person, with 47% of adults having gambled in person in the previous 12 months, while less than a quarter (23%) had gambled online.
‘Tickets for National Lottery draws’ was the most popular gambling type in 2024 with more than a third (35%) of adults reporting that they had purchased tickets in the last 12 months.
The majority of adults (88%) were considered to be a ‘non-problem gambler’ based on their Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) score in 2024, however, 3% were considered to be a ‘problem gambler’.
For the majority of adults in 2024 (63%), attitudes to gambling are unfavourable. The proportion of adults who have a favourable attitude to gambling (29%) has decreased when compared with 2016 (33%) but is similar to 2010 (27%).
Almost nine in every ten adults (89%) had never bet on a Sunday. One in twenty adults had bet rarely or occasionally on a Sunday (both 5%), with only 1% stating that they bet frequently on a Sunday.

Introduction

The Department for Communities has strategic responsibility for, amongst other policy areas, the development of policy and legislation on the regulation of the gambling industry in Northern Ireland. The gambling industry in Northern Ireland is currently regulated by the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.

This report presents the findings from the 2024 Gambling Prevalence Survey, which was commissioned by the Department for Communities to inform gambling policy and provide a baseline for future monitoring. The survey follows two similar surveys carried out in 2010 and 2016.

The 2024 Gambling Prevalence Survey was undertaken by interviewing a random sample of 2,000 adults, aged 16 and over, who reside in Northern Ireland. More information on the methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures for the 2024 Gambling Prevalence Survey can be found in the Summary of technical notes section, with further detail in the separate Technical Notes. Data tables are available in Excel and ODS format, along with a copy of the questionnaire.

Lead statistician: Celeste McCallion

Gambling participation

Respondents were provided with a list of 12 gambling types and asked whether they had spent money on these within the past 12 months. The gambling types used in the list were agreed in the development process with Social Policy Unit (SPU) in the Department for Communities (DfC) and are consistent with other gambling prevalence surveys. Respondents were also able to list up to three other types of gambling if they felt they were not covered by any of the twelve categories.

For the purposes of this report, if a person had spent money on any gambling type in the past 12 months, they were deemed to have participated in gambling. Money ‘spent’ on gambling was defined as an amount of money risked, i.e. this does not take into consideration any earnings or losses from the activity.

Just under three-fifths of adults (57%) said they had gambled in the last 12 months. This continues the decreasing trend between the 2010 and 2016 surveys (80% and 67%, respectively).

Participated in gambling in the last 12 months

Almost two-thirds of males (64%) had gambled in the last year, a higher proportion than for females (51%). Similar differences were also observed in the 2010 (males: 85%, females 75%) and 2016 (males: 70%, females: 64%) surveys. As with the overall trend, the proportions of males and females participating in gambling have decreased over successive surveys.

Analysis by age group shows that those aged 65 years and over were least likely to have participated in gambling, with less than half (47%) reporting that they had gambled in the last 12 months. In addition, those aged 16-24 years had higher levels of participation in gambling than the three age groups from 45 years and over.

Participated in gambling in the last 12 months by sex and age, 2024

Just over a half of Protestant adults (51%) had gambled in the previous 12 months, a lower proportion than both Catholics (60%) and those with other or no religion (64%).

Analysis by marital status showed that adults who were widowed (40%) were less likely than all other marital status groups to have gambled in the last 12 months, while those who were divorced/separated were most likely to have gambled (64%) when compared with the other marital status groups. More than three-fifths of adults with dependants (62%) had participated in gambling in the last 12 months, a higher proportion than those without dependants (55%). However, there was no difference in the prevalence of gambling between adults with a disability (55%) and those without a disability (58%).

Analysis by area showed differences in the levels of participation in gambling for both urban/rural comparisons and level of deprivation. A higher proportion of adults living in urban areas had gambled (59%) than those living in rural areas (54%). Similarly, a higher proportion of adults living in the most deprived areas had participated in gambling in the last 12 months than those living in the least deprived areas (66% and 56%, respectively).

Participated in gambling in the last 12 months by deprivation, 2024

Although not directly comparable due to differences in the methodology used to carry out the prevalence survey, figures produced by the Gambling Commission for 2023 show that 61% of adults in Great Britain had participated in gambling in the last 12 months.

Method of gambling: in person and online

Those who had taken part in the various gambling types were asked to identify the method of their participation for each type. They were able to choose more than one option for each gambling type e.g. in person, online, by telephone.

The most popular method of gambling was in person, with 47% of adults having gambled in person in the previous 12 months, while less than a quarter (23%) had gambled online. As with gambling overall, higher proportions of males had gambled both in-person and online (53% and 26%, respectively) than females (42% and 21%).

Analysis by age group shows that there were no differences in the proportions of each age group who had gambled in person. For online gambling, however, those aged 55 and over were less likely to gamble online than the younger age groups.

Method of gambling: in person and online

Adults who are Protestant (41%) were less likely than both adults who were Catholic (51%) and adults from other or no religion (54%) to have gambled in person. However, for gambling online, the proportions of Protestant adults (19%) and Catholic adults (21%) were similar and both lower than the proportion of adults with other or no religion (34%).

Analysis by marital status, shows that like gambling overall, adults who are widowed are less likely to have gambled either online or in person than all other marital status groups. Adults with a disability were less likely to gamble online (14%) than those without a disability (25%), but there was no difference in the proportion who gamble in person (49% and 47%, respectively). Analysis of adults with and without dependants shows reversed trend for online gambling (adults with dependants: 30%; adults without dependants: 19%), but no difference for in person gambling (49% and 46%, respectively).

For in person gambling, a higher proportion of adults living in the most deprived areas had participated (55%) when compared to adults living in the least deprived areas (43%). There was, however, no difference in the proportions of adults living in the most and least deprived areas who had gambled online in the last 12 months (25% and 27%, respectively).

In contrast, there was no difference in the proportion of adults living in rural and urban areas who had gambled in person (both 47%), but a higher proportion of adults living in urban areas had gambled online (26%) than those living in rural areas (16%).

Method of gambling by urban/rural

Analysis over time shows a decreasing trend for gambling in person, decreasing from 64% of adults in 2016 to 47% in 2024. In contrast, the proportion of adults who had gambled online increased from 11% to 23%. It is important to note, however, that this will in part reflect an increase in online activity in general.

Types of gambling

Participants were provided with a list of twelve types of gambling and asked which of these they had spent money on during the last 12 months.

Just over three in every ten adults (31%) had participated in only one type of gambling, while a further 15% had participated in two different types of gambling. About one in ten adults (11%) had engaged in three or more types of gambling.

‘Tickets for National Lottery draws’ was the most popular gambling type with more than a third (35%) of adults reporting that they had purchased tickets in the last 12 months. The next most popular types were ‘scratchcards or instant win games’ (18%), ‘betting on any event or sport’ (16%) and ‘tickets for any other lottery’ (13%). This list of the top four gambling types is unchanged from the 2016 survey, although the proportions participating in each have decreased.

Types of gambling

If those adults who only purchased ‘Tickets for National Lottery draws’ are excluded from the overall gambling participation figure, the figure reduces to 42%.

Participation in person is the predominate method for three of the top four most popular gambling types: National Lottery (73%), Scratchcards (95%) and Other Lottery (80%). Less than a half (46%) of adults who engage in ‘Betting on an event or sport’ participated in person, with about a third (34%) participating online and a further 17% using a mix of methods.

With the exception of “playing games online”, which by its nature is all online, only three types of gambling have a higher proportion of adults participating online than in person. The gambling type with the highest proportion of adults participating online is “In-play participation” (67%). This is followed by “Table games (roulette, poker or dice)” (54%) and “The football pools” (35%).

Frequency of gambling

For each gambling type, respondents were asked how often, on average, they had participated in it.

For adults who had gambled in the last year, more than half (51%) had participated in some type of gambling at least once a week, while around a quarter had participated less than once a week but at least once a month (23%) and less than once a month but at least once in the year (26%).

A higher proportion of males who had gambled in the last year (57%) had participated in some form of gambling at least once a week than females (44%). However, analysis by age group showed no difference in the proportions of those who had gambled who had participated in gambling at least once a week.

Adults from the Protestant community who had gambled were less likely to have gambled at least once a week (46%) than both Catholics (53%) and adults with other or no religion (57%). There were also differences when analysing by marital status, with adults who had gambled who were separated/divorced being more likely than other marital status groups to have gambled at least once a week. In contrast, adults who are widowed who had gambled were less likely than all other marital status groups to have gambled at least once a week.

Frequency of gambling

Comparisons of adults with and without a disability and with and without dependants showed no differences in the proportions of those who gambled who had participated at least once a week. However, adults from the most deprived areas who gambled were more likely to gamble at least once a week (57%) than adults from the least deprived areas (45%). Similarly, adults living in urban areas who had gambled were more likely to have gambled at least once a week than those living in rural areas (53% and 46%, respectively).

Four of the top five gambling types show no difference in the proportions of adults who gambled at least once a week. The exception being that those who participated in ‘Other Lottery’ were less likely to have participated at least once a week than the remaining four types. It is notable however, that adults who played games online were more likely than those who participated in the remaining four gambling types to have participated less than a once a week but at least once a month and correspondingly, less likely to participate less than once a month but at least once a year.

Gambling types by frequency of participation

Amount spent on gambling

For the purposes of this survey, spend was described to respondents as ‘the total amount of money risked in the past 7 days, i.e. this does not take into consideration any earnings or losses from the bet’.

For each gambling type, respondents were asked to indicate which band their spend fell into for the previous 7 days. The estimated weekly spend was calculated for each type by substituting the midpoint of each band as a numeric value and using this value to calculate the overall money spent for each type.

It is important to note that since estimated spend was calculated from banded rather than exact numeric data, they should not be viewed as exact figures, but rather a tool for comparing different groups. Moreover, the maximum value in each case was simply taken as the highest response category (e.g. £100) and any outlying high values could not be taken into account. Full details on this methodology are contained in the Technical Notes published alongside this report.

More than a half (54%) of all adults had not spent any money on gambling in the last 7 days. About one in ten adults had spent less than £5 (10%), between £5 and £10 (12%), between £10 and £20 (10%) and between £20 and £50 (9%). Only one in twenty adults had spent more than £50 (5%).

Analysing those who had gambled in the last year, a fifth (20%) had not spent any money on gambling in the previous 7 days, while almost two-fifths (39%) of those who had gambled in the last 7 days had spent £10 or less. However, almost a tenth (8%) of those who gambled had spent more than £50 in the last 7 days.

At-risk and problem gambling

Problem gambling is defined as ‘gambling to a degree which compromises, disrupts or damages family, personal or recreational pursuits.’ The prevalence of problem gambling was assessed using a validated population measure which is used globally, the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI).

The PGSI consists of nine questions on areas such as betting more than can be afforded, “chasing losses”, financial difficulties caused by gambling and associated health problems. Respondents are asked to assess how relevant each question is to their own gambling habits over the previous 12 months. Each question is assessed on a four-point scale: ‘never’; ‘sometimes’; ‘most of the time’; ‘almost always’. These are scored from zero to three based on the response. All nine responses are summed to give a total score ranging from zero to 27. The total score determines which PGSI group an individual is classified as belonging to. The table below shows the scores and interpretation of each PGSI group. A score of zero represents a non-problem gambler, whereas a score of eight or more represents problem gambling.

Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) groups

Total Score	Group	Interpretation
0	Non-problem gambler	No identified consequences
1-2	Low risk gambler	Low level of problems with few or no identified negative consequences
3-7	Moderate risk gambler	Moderate level of problems leading to some negative consequences
8 or more	Problem gambler	Problem gambling with negative consequences and a possible loss of control

Overall PGSI score

Overall, there were no changes in the proportions of any PGSI group in 2024 when comparing with the 2010 and 2016 surveys.

As with previous surveys, the vast majority of adults (88%) were considered to be ‘non-problem gamblers’ based on their PGSI score in 2024. Gambling is considered to have no identified consequences for this group. This group includes those who did not gamble in the last 12 months. Approximately one in 20 adults (5%) were identified as ‘low risk gamblers’ with few or no negative consequences.

One in 20 adults (5%) were considered to be a ‘moderate risk gambler’, while 3% were considered to be a ‘problem gambler’. These groups are considered to experience at least some negative consequences from their gambling, with problem gamblers also experiencing a possible loss of control.

Problem gambling levels have remained similar across all three surveys in 2010 (3%), 2016 (2%) and 2024 (3%).

For both males and females, the majority were considered to be ‘non-problem gamblers’, although females were more likely to be in this group than males (93% and 81%, respectively). A higher proportion of males compared with females were categorised as ‘low risk gamblers’ (7% and 3%), ‘moderate risk gamblers’ (8% and 1%) and ‘problem gamblers’ (4% and 2%).

Similarly, analysis by age group shows that the majority of respondents across all age groups were considered to be ‘non-problem gamblers’, with the proportion of those aged 55 and over who fell into this category being higher than the younger age groups. In contrast, higher proportions of the younger age groups (16-44 years) were in the ‘low risk gamblers’ group. There was, however, a less obvious trend for the ‘moderate risk gamblers’, where the proportion of the younger two age groups (16-34 years) in this group was higher than for those age 65 and over. Adults aged 65 and over were less likely than all other age groups to be in the ‘problem gamblers’ group.

PGSI ratings by age group

A higher proportion of adults with other or no religion were problem gamblers (8%) than both Protestant adults and Catholic adults (1% and 2%, respectively). The difference was reversed for the proportion who were non-problem gamblers, with a lower proportion of adults with other or no religion in this group than both Protestant and Catholic adults.

Adults with a disability were more likely to be problem gamblers than those who do not have a disability (6% and 2%, respectively). However, the proportions of those with and without a disability in each of the moderate, low risk and non-problem gambling groups were similar. For adults with dependants, higher proportions were in the problem gambling (4%) and low risk gambling groups (6%) than those without dependants (2% and 4%, respectively), with a lower proportion in the non-problem gambling group (85% and 89%, respectively).

Analysis by area showed higher proportions of adults in the problem gambling group for both the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas (5% and 1%, respectively), and urban areas compared with rural areas (4% and fewer than 1%).

PGSI score by gambling types and spend

Adults who participate in three or more gambling types are more likely to be moderate risk or problem gamblers than those who participate in one or two gambling types.

Of the adults who participate in the five most popular gambling types, the majority are considered to be “Non-problem gamblers”. However, those who participate in “Scratchcards”, “Sports betting” and “Online gaming” were more likely than those who participated in the “National Lottery” and “Other Lottery” to be considered moderate risk or problem gamblers.

Almost one in ten (8%) adults who were considered to be moderate risk gamblers or problem gamblers had spent more than £50 in the last week. However, almost one in twenty (4%) of the same group had not spent any money on gambling activity in the last week.

Individual PGSI statements

Responses to the individual PGSI questions demonstrate that a minority of all adults and all adults who had participated in gambling in the last 12 months considered that they had experienced the issues associated with problem gambling. More than nine in every ten adults considered that they had ‘never’ experienced each of the issues associated with problem gambling.

Between 83% and 95% of adults who had participated in gambling said they had ‘never’ done any of the behaviours associated with problem gambling in the past 12 months. The most common behaviour exhibited was going back another day to try and win back money lost, with less than one in five adults who had gambled (17%) saying they had done this at least sometimes in the last 12 months.

Approximately one in seven adults who participated in gambling in the last 12 months (14%) said they had at least sometimes bet more than they could afford to lose and about one in eight (12%) said they ‘needed to gamble larger amounts to get the same feeling of excitement’.

PGSI statements have applied at least sometimes by those who participated in gambling

Higher proportions of adults who are classified as either ‘moderate risk gamblers’ or ‘problem gamblers’ had experienced the issues associated with problem gambling.

The large majority of moderate risk / problem gamblers said they had “chased losses” (94%), ‘bet more than they can really afford to lose’ (87%) and had ‘needed to gamble larger amounts to get the same feeling of excitement’ (79%) in the last year. Almost three-fifths of moderate risk/problem gamblers had been ‘criticised or told they have a gambling problem’ and felt guilty about their gambling (both 57%), while over half (55%) had experienced ‘health problems’.

Around two-fifths of moderate risk/problem gamblers said that their ‘gambling caused financial problems’ for them or their household at least sometime in the last year (40%), that they had ‘borrowed money or sold anything to gamble’ (38%) and that they might have a problem with gambling (38%).

PGSI statements have applied at least sometimes by moderate risk/problem gamblers

Attitudes to gambling

Respondents were asked about their level of agreement with eight attitudinal statements about gambling. The statements were designed to measure their attitudes towards gambling in general as opposed to the individual respondent’s attitude towards their own behaviour. No single type of gambling was specified; instead, the focus was on gambling in general. The scale used to measure overall attitudes to gambling in the 2024 survey replicated that used in both the 2010 and 2016 surveys. The scale involves scoring the eight individual attitudinal statements, with the total score of all eight being used to give an overall attitude score of favourable, neutral or unfavourable towards gambling.

For the majority of adults in 2024 (63%), attitudes to gambling are unfavourable. The proportion of adults who have a favourable attitude to gambling has decreased when compared with 2016 (29% and 33%, respectively), reversing the increase between 2010 and 2016.

The majority of both males and females held unfavourable attitudes to gambling. However, the proportion of females who held this view was higher than males (71% and 54%). In contrast, males were more likely than females to have a favourable attitude to gambling (37% and 21%, respectively).

Younger people aged 16-24 are more likely to have a favourable attitude to gambling and less likely to have an unfavourable attitude than all other age groups.

Attitudes to gambling

Analysis by marital status shows that higher proportions of adults who were single (37%) and those who were separated or divorced (33%) had a favourable attitude to gambling than adults who are married/co-habiting (26%). Adults who were widowed had the lowest proportion with a favourable attitude to gambling (14%) when compared to all other marital status groups.

Adults who have a disability and those who do not have a disability showed no differences in the proportions who had favourable and unfavourable attitudes to gambling. However, adults with dependants were more likely to have a favourable attitude to gambling (33%) than those without dependants (27%).

Analysis by level of deprivation shows that a higher proportion of adults who live in the most deprived areas had a favourable attitude to gambling when compared with those living in the least deprived areas (36% and 28%, respectively). However, the proportions of those living in the most and least deprived areas who had an unfavourable attitude to gambling were similar (58% and 61%, respectively). A higher proportion of adults living in the least deprived areas had a neutral attitude to gambling (11%) compared to those living in the most deprived areas (6%).

Adults living in urban areas were more likely to have a favourable attitude to gambling than those living in rural areas (32% and 22%, respectively), while the difference was reversed for adults with an unfavourable attitude (urban: 60%; rural: 69%).

Attitudes to gambling by urban/rural

Attitude scale by number of gambling types

Just over four-fifths (81%) of adults who did not participate in any type of gambling in the past 12 months had an unfavourable attitude to gambling. The levels of unfavourable attitudes to gambling decreased as the number of gambling types participated in increased. The reverse was also true in that as the number of different types of gambling increased, a higher proportion of adults are favourable in their attitude to gambling. In fact, the majority of those who participated in three or more gambling types (68%) had a favourable attitude to gambling, while only 26% had an unfavourable attitude.

Attitudes to gambling by number of gambling types participated in

Attitude scale by PGSI score

Two-thirds (66%) of non-problem/low risk gamblers had an unfavourable attitude to gambling, with only a quarter (25%) of this group having a favourable attitude. In contrast, three-quarters (75%) of moderate risk/problem gamblers had a favourable attitude towards gambling, while just over a fifth (22%) had an unfavourable attitude to gambling.

Attitudes to gambling by PGSI score

Individual attitude statements

Analysis of the responses to the individual attitudinal statements shows that around three-quarters of adults felt that “There are too many opportunities for gambling nowadays” (76%) and that “Gambling is dangerous for family life” (73%), while more than half (54%) felt that “Gambling should be discouraged”. In spite of this, however, more than three-quarters of adults (77%) agreed with the statement ‘People should have the right to gamble whenever they want’ and just over half (52%) disagreed with the statement ‘It would be better if gambling was banned altogether’.

The results for the individual attitudinal statements are broadly similar to those in both the 2010 and 2016 prevalence surveys.

Further effects of gambling

A new section of questions included in the 2024 survey asked about further effects of gambling both on those who had participated in gambling and on those who had someone close to them who participated in gambling.

The vast majority of those who had participated in gambling in the last 12 months (ranging from 95-99%) had not experienced each of the further effects of gambling asked about. However, around one in twenty gamblers stated that they had reduced or cut back on spending on every day items due to gambling (5%) or they had experienced greater conflict or arguments with friends, family and work colleagues (4%).

Further effects experienced as a result of own gambling

Those who gambled were also asked if they had sought any of four types of help, support or information either online, in person or by telephone during the last 12 months. Almost all of those who gambled had not sought the types of support mentioned, however, 3% had used foodbanks or other welfare services; while 1% of gamblers had used each of mental health services, relationship counselling and support services and gambling support services.

While the majority of those who indicated that they had someone close to them who gambled also said they had not experienced each of the further effects of gambling, the range differed, from 87-97%. More than one in ten adults who have someone close to them who gambles stated that they had experienced greater conflict or arguments with friends, family and work colleagues (13%), while one in ten said their relationship with someone close, such as a spouse, partner, family member or friend, had broken down because of someone else’s gambling (10%). About one in every twenty adults who had someone close to them who gambled stated that they felt more isolated (6%), had experienced violence or abuse (5%) or had to use their savings to fund someone else’s gambling (5%).

Further effects experienced as a result of someone else’s gambling

Those who had someone close to them who gambled were also asked if they had sought any of four types of help, support or information either online, in person or by telephone during the last 12 months. As with gamblers, almost all of those who had someone close who gambled had not sought to use any of the services mentioned. However, 3% of those with someone close who gambled had used each of mental health services and gambling support services, while 2% had used each of the following: foodbanks and other welfare organisations; and relationship counselling and support services.

Betting on a Sunday

Since the last Gambling Prevalence Survey in 2016, changes to gambling legislation have brought Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom in allowing Sunday opening. The 2024 questionnaire included a question on how often the respondent would bet on a Sunday.

Almost nine in every ten adults (89%) had never bet on a Sunday. One in twenty adults had bet rarely and occasionally on a Sunday (both 5%), with only 1% stating that they bet frequently on a Sunday. When non-gamblers are excluded, the majority (82%) still did not gamble on a Sunday.

How often bet on Sunday

Of those who have gambled on a Sunday, the majority had done so online (63%), while 33% had participated in person and 3% had used a mix of methods. When asked how much they would spend on average betting on a Sunday, three-fifths of those who had bet on a Sunday had spent £10 or less on average, just over a fifth (22%) had spent more than £10 but £20 or less. However, one in twenty of those who bet on a Sunday said they spent more than £50 on average.

Gambling advertising

The respondents were asked what type of advertisements for gambling they had seen or heard in the past month. They were able to pick more than one option.

‘Television adverts’ (79%) was the most common form of advertisement seen or heard, followed by ‘online adverts’ (57%). Around three in every ten adults had seen or heard ‘newspaper/magazine adverts’ (30%) and radio adverts (27%).

Almost a tenth of respondents (8%) had not seen advertisements for gambling through any of these methods in the past month.

Types of gambling advertisements seen or heard

Respondents were then asked whether they agreed or disagreed with statements relating to gambling advertisements.

The majority (65%) of adults felt there were ‘too many gambling advertisements’, while more than seven in every ten (71%) were in support of a watershed for gambling advertisements. Almost three-fifths of adults (57%) disagreed that offers/promotions by bookmakers/gambling companies were a good thing. However, half (50%) felt that ‘bookmakers/gambling companies should be allowed to sponsor sports events or teams’. Views on whether gambling advertisements and sponsorship should be banned altogether were split, with 42% agreeing and 36% disagreeing.

Attitudes to gambling advertisements

Summary of technical notes

Sample and fieldwork

The Gambling Prevalence study was undertaken by interviewing 2,000 adults, aged 16 and over, who reside in Northern Ireland. The interviews were carried out face-to-face in the respondent’s home using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) in conjunction with CASI (Computer-Aided Self Interviewing).

The sample for the survey was a systematic random sample of addresses, selected by Central Survey Unit in the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), from the NISRA Address Register (NAR). The NAR is developed within NISRA and is primarily based on the Land and Property Services (LPS) Pointer database. The complete list of residential addresses in Northern Ireland was stratified into three regions: Belfast (Belfast City Council only), East of Northern Ireland and West of Northern Ireland. The number of addresses drawn from each region was proportional to the number of addresses in the region. The sample is therefore equivalent to a simple random sample of all private addresses in Northern Ireland. A total of 6,000 addresses were selected. Where there was more than one adult in the selected household, the person to be interviewed was randomly selected using the ‘next birthday’ rule.

Fieldwork was carried out by Perceptive Insight between April and October 2024.

A total of 3,705 addresses were issued for the survey, of which 273 were found to be ineligible, i.e. they were vacant, derelict, commercial addresses. Of the remaining 3,432 addresses, 817 chose not to participate in the survey and there were 615 where no contact could be made with the householder. The resulting response rate was therefore 58%.

Weighting

Weighting was carried out using a cell-based weighting technique which adjusts the sample so that the data is made more representative of the population. A chi square goodness-of-fit test showed that the sample was not representative of the population by age and sex combined and by age when compared with the 2023 Mid Year Estimates for Northern Ireland. As a result, weights were produced for age and age and sex combined.

Statistical significance in this report

Any statements in this report regarding differences between groups are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. Both the base numbers and sizes of percentages have an effect on statistical significance. Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions is actually significant and has not just arisen by chance.

Scoring the attitude scale

As in the 2010 and 2016 surveys, a scale was used to measure overall attitudes to gambling. Respondents were asked about their level of agreement with eight attitudinal statements about gambling.

People should have the right to gamble whenever they want
There are too many opportunities for gambling nowadays
Gambling should be discouraged
Most people who gamble do so sensibly
Gambling is dangerous for family life
On balance gambling is good for society
Gambling livens up life
It would be better if gambling was banned altogether

Each statement was scored from one to five depending on the response. When scores to each statement are summed, a total score of 24 shows a neutral attitude towards gambling, a score greater than 24 shows a favourable attitude and a score less than 24 shows an unfavourable attitude

The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)

The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) was developed over a three-year period by Ferris and Wynne as a means of measuring rates of problem, at-risk and non-problem gambling. It was developed, tested and validated within a general population survey and, as such, is specifically for use among the general population. The instrument itself has been subject to critical evaluation and has been used in a range of other national prevalence surveys globally, including other parts of the UK. The PGSI consists of nine questions on areas such as betting more than can be afforded, “chasing losses”, financial difficulties caused by gambling and associated health problems. Each question is assessed on a four-point scale: ‘never’, ‘sometimes’, ‘most of the time’, ‘almost always’. Responses to each question are scored from zero to three.
When scores to each question are summed, a total score ranging from zero to 27 is possible. The total score determines which PGSI group an individual is classified as belonging to

Official Statistics

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Other notes

The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables:

Percentages less than 0.5% are denoted by ‘0’ and where there are no responses, they are denoted by ‘-’.
Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.
Percentages may not add to 100% for questions where multiple responses are allowed.
Detailed tabulations are not provided where the number of respondents is too small to allow meaningful analysis.
The base number of responses to each question, which is shown in each table, is the unweighted count. The base may vary due to some respondents not answering certain questions.