Publication of controversial new betting survey does little to allay fears of misuse of data

The misuse of statistics was a hot topic in the lead-up to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and remained so following its publication on Thursday.

A two-part special report published by the Racing Post this week highlighted worries over the reliability of figures to be contained in the GSGB due to the methodology behind it, amid concerns it would overestimate the level of gambling participation and gambling harm.

The GSGB measures gambling participation and problem gambling prevalence rates and replaces the NHS Health Surveys as an official source of statistics, although the Gambling Commission took the extraordinary step of issuing a warning about interpreting the data in the survey in the week before its publication.

Special reports

• Part 1: How debunked stats and a selective approach to publishing research has misled the gambling reform debate 
• Part 2: The Gambling Commission's shocking new betting survey is drawing heavy criticism - so why is it still being published? 

It advised the GSGB should not be used to provide direct comparisons with prior gambling or health surveys and cannot be used "to calculate an overall rate of gambling-related harm".

The guidance also stated the survey should not be used “to gross up the prevalence of problem gambling or the consequences of gambling to the whole population” until further work is completed.

Campaigners for gambling reform and elements of the media had already used provisional data to extrapolate a total figure for those suffering from gambling harm, and at least one further apparent high-profile example of this followed publication.

Guidance on interpreting data was issued before the GSGB's publicationCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

A story in The Guardian was headlined 'Harm from problem gambling in Great Britain may be eight times higher than thought' and stated the new figure "would equate to 1.3 million people". The Guardian did, however, state there was a risk the GSGB's data could be an overestimate.

The Evening Standard was another publication to cover the GSGB's release but many high-profile news organisations, including the BBC, had not reported on the survey by 5pm.

In its guidance, the Gambling Commission stated an individual or organisation found to be using official statistics inaccurately may be contacted by the commission and be requested to make a correction.

Read these next:

Government says it will carefully consider results of controversial new gambling survey 

Gambling Commission must take heavy share of responsibility for misreporting of controversial survey figures 

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