Gambling Commission responds to OSR recommendations following GSGB review
Summary
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) reviewed the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and raised concerns about methodology, quality assurance, comparability with other surveys and how users interpret the data. The Gambling Commission has set out a formal response and has already implemented a number of changes while committing to further improvements ahead of the second GSGB report.
Key actions include commissioning NatCen (with Professor Patrick Sturgis and Professor Jouni Kuha) to run experimental research on survey methods, updating user guidance and quality-assurance processes, establishing a GSGB Statistics User Group, publishing a user engagement strategy and planning cross-survey comparisons with the Health Survey for England and the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. Many changes will be reflected in the second annual report due October 2025.
Source
Source: https://igamingbusiness.com/strategy/gambling-commission-response-osr-review-gsgb/
Key Points
- • OSR flagged reliability concerns in the GSGB around self-completion methods, QA, comparability and data use.
- • The Commission commissioned NatCen (with Sturgis and Kuha) to run experimental research; results were due summer and some changes are pushed to 2 October 2025.
- • GSGB data undergoes NatCen QA followed by further quality assurance at the Commission; a new research governance framework is due this summer.
- • User guidance was updated (Feb 2025) to clarify limitations, appropriate uses and to provide a dedicated contact and public corrections log (updated quarterly).
- • The Commission will carry out cross‑survey comparisons with HSE and APMS and publish findings in the October technical report.
- • Engagement improvements include a formal GSGB Statistics User Group, a user engagement strategy, a feedback form and a dedicated email channel launched in June/July 2025.
- • The Commission is improving communications (webinars, conferences, digital/traditional channels) and considering accessibility measures such as adding Digital Object Identifiers to reports.
- • Many OSR recommendations are already being actioned and further changes will appear in the second annual GSGB report due October 2025.
Why should I read this?
If you use gambling statistics for policy, research or compliance, this is where the GSGB gets fixed up. The regulator has started patching holes in the survey process, published clearer guidance and set up routes for feedback — so you’ll want to know what’s changed before you rely on the next dataset.
Source
Source: https://igamingbusiness.com/strategy/gambling-commission-response-osr-review-gsgb/