UK gamblers turn on mobiles, tune out social media marketing

UK gamblers are gambling more on their mobile devices than ever before, but they’re losing interest in online gambling companies’ social media pitches.

On Tuesday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) published its latest gambling participation and perception report, which draws on interviews with around 1,000 random subjects every three months, then combines the results into a rolling year average to smooth out the effects of seasonality.

There are no major surprises in the latest results, which showed 45% of respondents copping to having gambled at least once in the previous four weeks, down from 48% in the 2016 survey. Excluding the National Lottery, participation falls to 31%, down two points year-on-year.

Excluding the National Lottery, online gambling participation remained relatively unchanged at 14%. The average online gambler held four different accounts last year, one more than in 2016, but equal to the 2015 figure.