The Gambling Commission has published a report examining differences between data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) and admissions data held by trade body the Bingo Association, after earlier estimates for in-person bingo participation did not align.
The issue centred on the GSGB's 2024 estimate that 3.3% of adults aged 18 and over had played bingo in a venue in the previous four weeks.
The Bingo Association raised concerns that this appeared inconsistent with its own data on attendance at bingo clubs, prompting a joint review.
To investigate the gap, the Commission's Research and Statistics team worked with the Bingo Association to add a new question to the GSGB.
The question asked respondents where they had played bingo, covering traditional bingo clubs as well as other locations such as village halls and community venues.
After one wave of data was collected, the findings were shared with the Bingo Association. Both parties then agreed to keep the question in the survey for additional waves in order to increase the number of responses and improve comparability.
Based on data from three waves, the Commission said the results showed bingo is played across a range of venues and that this helped explain why the earlier participation estimate appeared higher than industry admissions data for bingo clubs alone.
The updated survey estimate for people playing bingo in traditional bingo clubs was 1.2%, compared with the Bingo Association's own estimate of 1.0% derived from admissions data into those venues.
Bingo Association Chief Executive Miles Baron said: "The Bingo Association are fortunate that they collect detailed industry data which allowed them to cross reference and subsequently question findings from the GSGB regarding participation rates for bingo."
Baron added: "We now have more clarity on why there are differences, although there are further questions to explore once there is a bigger sample size."
The Gambling Commission said it intends to carry out further analysis into the demographic profiles of bingo players across different venue types once the respondent base is larger.
The Gambling Commission was also in focus earlier this month when it confirmed that Spribe's UK licence suspension had been lifted, allowing the supplier to operate again after what the regulator had described as serious non-compliance with hosting requirements.
e additional GSGB question was designed to capture bingo play in venues including village halls and other non-club locations
