UK gambling addiction much worse than thought, says survey Rob Davies, The Guardian · May 20, 2020 at 7:14 am Gambling addiction rates may be much higher than previously thought, according to research that also warns nearly half of those with a problem are not getting any help. In a survey commissioned by the GambleAware charity, YouGov estimated that up to 2.7% of adults in Great Britain, or nearly 1.4 million people, were problem gamblers. Experts urged caution over the figure, insisting that the true addiction rate is likely to be closer to the health survey figures of 0.7% cited by industry regulator the Gambling Commission. But the findings still indicate that the number of problem gamblers – defined as scoring more than eight on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) – may be significantly above current estimates. YouGov questioned 16,000 people for the survey.