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<p>As part of the Gambling Commission's duty under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/26"
target="_blank">Gambling Act 2005</a> to advise the government on gambling in Great
Britain and provide an effective regulatory function, they collect gambling participation
and problem gambling prevalence data via surveys of adults in Great Britain, principally
the Health Surveys and quarterly telephone surveys. The data are published as <a href="https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/Statistics-and-research/Statistics/About-the-status-of-official-statistics.aspx"
target="_blank">official statistics</a> and they are produced in accordance with the
standards set out by the Government Statistical Service in the Code of Practice for
Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>The Health Surveys use a face to face methodology; and historically
this methodology has provided the best means of delivering a random probability sample,
which means every household listed on the Postcode Address File (a list of every point
in the UK to which mail is delivered to) is given an equal chance of being selected
to take part in the survey. Random probability sampling is generally regarded as the
best method to achieve accurate population estimates. The Health Surveys include the
PGSI and the DSM-IV screens for problem gambling, and a combined score from both presents
an accurate picture of problem gambling. However, some challenges exist with the Health
Surveys such as its relative infrequency so the Commission supplement the data with
a quarterly telephone survey.</p><p> </p><p>The quarterly telephone survey is currently
the Gambling Commissions’ main measure of gambling participation (in the last four
weeks) and is intended to supplement the high quality but less frequent prevalence
measurement through the Health Surveys.. Telephone interviewing is a widespread method
of running a nationally representative survey of a cross-section of the population.
The short form PGSI screen is used within the telephone survey to measure problem
gambling and the prevalence data compares reasonably closely to the Health Survey
figures. However, there are a number of criticisms of telephone surveys, not least
that it relies on respondents having telephone access (landline or mobile).</p><p>
</p>Having recognised some of the challenges above and as part of the Gambling Commissions’
ambition to improve the quality and robustness of their statistics, they have recently
consulted on proposals to change the research methodology used to collect gambling
participation and problem gambling statistics. The consultation responses indicated
a high level of agreement with the proposals, and the Gambling Commission are in the
process of commissioning a pilot to test a new approach. Their full response to the
consultation is available <a href="https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/print/participation-and-prevalence-research"
target="_blank">here</a> https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/print/participation-and-prevalence-research
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