Gambling Commission to continue to take misuse of statistics “seriously”
Director of research and statistics Ben Haden insists actions will be taken against individuals and bodies that continue to misrepresent data
The Gambling Commission has insisted it will continue to take the misuse of official statistics “seriously” as the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) rises to the fore.
In a blog post penned by director of research and statistics Ben Haden, the exec praised the breadth and reach of the new data standard while reaffirming the regulator’s commitment to proper representation.
The latest Gambling Survey for Great Britain report was published last week, covering January 2024 to April 2024, which noted 48% of respondents had participated in any gambling activity in the past four weeks.
Haden took the opportunity to talk up the study’s reach and the nascent impact it has already had on research.
He said: “We’re a couple of months on from the release of our first annual report for GSGB and one of the great things that I and the team at the Commission have seen since then is the number of people in the research community, the gambling sector and even more widely, starting to explore and get to grips with what the wealth of data we now have can tell us.”
The Gambling Commission has also published an invitation to tender, inviting proposals from suppliers to undertake work to improve the study.
Those suggested improvements come following feedback from Professor Patrick Sturgis at the London School of Economics.
Haden added: “Feedback is welcome. But while we will continue to work hard on refining the GSGB where we need to, I am excited that we are only at the beginning of what is the start for us in terms of how we will be able to make changes using the GSGB.
“The more research and work that is done using the regular data that the GSGB provides – at scale and high quality – the more we will see its value.”
The research director then segued into the importance of using data as accurately as possible, with the misuse of statistics a main priority for the regulator.
In June, via a freedom of information (FOI) request, the Gambling Commission partly revealed it had been in contact with several groups regarding the use of stats.
Those were the University of Bristol, Gambling with Lives, the Guardian, the Public Policy Exchange and Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle.
The University of Bristol was singled out for using “outdated official statistics” and a “grossed-up” population figure in isolation regarding children suffering from gambling-related harm.
The Guardian was informed it had misused stats to claim online casino has a higher rate of addiction than sports betting, while Gambling with Lives’ claim that the rate of addiction in the UK could be eight times higher than previously thought was reproached.
The Public Policy Exchange was deemed to have incorrectly used stats at a conference, while Baroness Bennett’s claim in the House of Lords that there are one million problem gamblers in the UK was also refuted.
A second FOI request in July, asking for communications between the regulator and the Office for Statistics Regulation relating to referrals, saw the Gambling Commission withhold the information.
Last August, Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes penned an open letter imploring bodies and individuals to not misrepresent data amid a “significant increase in misuse”.
Continuing in his blog post, Haden said: “This is also why we are taking the misuse of official statistics so seriously as well. We have and will continue to take action wherever we see misuse of our official statistics.
“And if you have any questions about this, I would invite you to have a look at the guidance on using our official statistics we published earlier in the summer.”