One in six UK adults gambled online in 2016

Roughly one in six UK adults gambled online last year, thanks in part to excitement over a pair of quadrennial sporting events.

The UK Gambling Commission’s latest gambling participation survey shows that 48% of respondents aged 16 years or older reported engaging in at least one form of gambling last year, although this figure drops to 33% if you exclude National Lottery play.

Around 17% reported gambling online, up from 15% in 2015. Here too, excluding the National Lottery pushes online participation down to 13%, but this is up four points from 2015. At least some of the online surge was credited to the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament and the Summer Olympic Games in Rio.

Laptops remain the online gamblers’ device of choice at 55%, although this was down six points from 2015. Similarly, desktop PC use fell four points to 34%, while mobile phones gained six points to 29% and tablets were up five points to 21%. Men were more likely to gamble on their phone, while women held the edge in tablet use.