British Remote Gambling released its latest statistics

In the UK, the Gambling Commission regulatory body has released its latest statistics on the participation of adults in remote gambling from December of last year to September of 2008.

The Commission tasked ICM Research to survey 2,000 adults every quarter and found that 9.3 of the 8,000 respondents had participated in at least one form of remote gambling over the previous month. This compares with last year’s figure of 8.8 and 2006’s 7.2 . However, 90.5 of respondents said that they had not participated in any form of remote gambling with 0.2 % answering with a ‘don’t know’ response.

Those participating in remote gambling remain more likely to be male than female between the ages of 18 to 44 while taking part via a computer, laptop or handheld device remains most popular at 7.5 . This is followed by gambling via a mobile telephone at 2.7 and interactive/digital television at two percent.

The Commission revealed that the 0.5 in growth is explained largely by increased online participation in the National Lottery. It stated that 5.4 of respondents had participated in remote gambling in the year to September of 2008 if those playing only National Lottery games remotely are excluded.

This compares with 5.2 last year and 5.1 in 2006 with the Commission stating that 6.7 % of respondents said that they had bought tickets and gambled remotely on the National Lottery in the previous month.