Gambling Commission Publishes New Research on Informed Choice

^{The Gambling Commission's Birmingham headquarters, where the regulator published new consumer research this week on what 'informed choice' means to gambling customers. (Photo: Bs0u10e01 / Wikimedia Commons)}

The Gambling Commission has published new research examining what 'informed choice' means to gambling consumers, part of its wider drive to test whether operators are giving customers the information they need to decide whether, and how, to gamble.

The regulator's Strategy Manager, Donna Bateman, set out the findings in a blog post on 15 September 2026, describing a report from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) that forms part of the Commission's Consumer Voice programme of research.

Why the Commission Commissioned the Research

The Commission said the work traces back to its current Corporate Strategy, published in April 2024, which committed the regulator to put more resource into understanding risks to the 'fair and open' licensing objective. Three outcomes sit under that objective: that products and services deliver what they promise, that consumers can make informed choices about their gambling, and that licensees address consumer issues fairly and promptly.

In the blog post, Bateman wrote: 'The concept of 'informed choice' is a key tenet of consumer protection and rights law, and at a basic level, it means giving the consumer the right information at the right time in a way they understand so they can make a genuine decision.'

'We were keen that the consumer view played a central role in our deeper assessment of fairness and transparency issues, and that starts with informed choice.'

The Commission's Statement of Principles for licensing and regulation already sets out its expectation that operators communicate with customers in a way that is clear, not misleading, and allows them to make a properly informed judgment about whether to gamble. The new research is intended to test how well that expectation holds up in practice, and where the gaps sit.

What the BIT Study Looked At

The BIT report explores how consumer understanding of 'informed choice' varies depending on the products people are gambling on, whether they play online or at land-based venues, and whether they are casual or regular gamblers. It also looks at how those views shift across the customer journey, from the moment someone first considers gambling through to placing a bet or spinning a reel.

Bateman said the findings 'provide useful insights for all stakeholders into consumer experiences and their expectations, and how changes could be made to enhance decision-making processes for consumers.' The Commission has not yet set out specific policy changes arising from the research, framing it instead as an evidence-gathering step within the Consumer Voice programme.

Part of a Wider Transparency Push

The research lands soon after the Commission announced new rules aimed at boosting consumer protection and operator transparency, and after Commission assistant director Tim Miller argued that delivery on existing commitments, not further policy papers, would do more to protect consumers. Read together, the three point to a regulator trying to move from broad transparency principles toward evidence of whether those principles change how people actually gamble.

For UK operators, the practical takeaway is that the Commission is actively building a consumer-side evidence base on informed choice, separate from its own supervisory data. That evidence could inform future guidance on how operators present odds, costs, promotions and risk information, particularly where a mismatch shows up between what operators say and what consumers actually understand.

The Commission has not published a timeline for any follow-up policy work based on the BIT findings. The full report is available on the regulator's website alongside the blog post.