The UK Gambling Commission has released details of the Gambling Participation and Perceptions report from 2017, and it reveals a large increase in the number of mobile gamers in the country. The report, which takes into consideration the entire 12 months of last year, shows a figure of 51% of players used their mobile device to access online gaming. This is a significant rise on the 43% findings in 2016. The 8% rise goes to show how much more popular the mobile gambling industry is with each passing year within the UK.

The mobile gaming figure was just one of several findings that the report uncovered though. Of the people who responded to the research, just 0.8% of them admitted to being problem gamblers, while another 3.9% added that they considered themselves “at-risk” gamblers. Further to this, about 6% of them took on the decision to self-exclude from online gaming altogether last year.

However, perhaps the most stunning piece of information that the report revealed was that a massive 67% of players don’t believe that gambling is fair or trustworthy. This is up very slightly on 2016 when 66% of people believed this, giving an insight into exactly how happy punters are with the online gambling world. Not only that, but about 41% of people believe that gambling is an activity that is associated with the criminal world, seeing a 2% increase itself.

The Gambling Commission Comments

The program director of the UK Gambling Commission, Ben Haden said that the regulatory body has a new strategy for the next three years. This plan sees it developing a strong base of evidence and an improved understanding when it comes to the impact that gambling has on society. He went on to state that the 2017 report is a great contribution to this work, presenting “a comprehensive view” with regard to how the UK gaming community opts to play, as well as their general attitudes towards the current UK market.

Haden also commented that the research that the Commission conducted also showed the main factor behind where someone opts to gamble – a company that holds a reputation for being both fair as well as trustworthy. Therefore, this brought him to the conclusion that if gambling companies treat their punters well and hold a responsible stance, they stand at a clear advantage competitively.

However, it wasn’t only a report on 2017’s gaming options, but also looked at the past four weeks. From this, the Commission was able to deduce that the amount of people who had chosen to gamble online within that time period increased from 17% to 18%. Additionally, the number of players who had chosen to gamble either online or offline in any form in that same time period did actually drop. The same period in 2016 had an amount of 48% of people playing in the past four weeks, while 2017 was down to 45%.