The industry and where the money goes
The Gambling Survey for Great Britain and Gallup both publish participation figures. The age profile is the opposite of every other gambling product.
Participation data on lotteries is unusually good, because in several countries the regulator commissions a large annual survey and publishes the tables. This article uses only those sources.
The Gambling Survey for Great Britain, Annual Report 2025 is an Official Statistic published by the Gambling Commission on 16 July 2026, conducted by NatCen with the University of Glasgow. It surveyed 20,775 adults aged 18 and over, with fieldwork running from January 2025 to January 2026 across four quarterly waves. All figures below come from the published data tables.
| Measure | Past 4 weeks | Past 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Any gambling | 47.4% | 59.0% |
| Any gambling, excluding lottery-draw-only players | 27.0% | 40.2% |
That gap is the single most important number in British gambling statistics. Removing people whose only gambling is a lottery draw cuts four-week participation from 47.4% to 27.0% — a difference of 20.4 percentage points, or 43% of all reported gambling participation.
Any statement about "how many people gamble" in Britain is really a statement about the lottery unless it says otherwise.
| Activity | % of adults |
|---|---|
| Tickets for any lottery draw | 36.5 |
| Tickets for National Lottery draws | 31.0 |
| — bought online | 25.6 |
| — bought in person | 15.5 |
| Tickets for other charity lottery draws | 16.3 |
| Scratchcards (any) | 12.2 |
| Betting (any) | 9.8 |
| Online instant win games | 7.9 |
| Fruit and slots games | 4.8 |
| Bingo | 4.5 |
| Casino games | 3.4 |
| Football pools | 1.6 |
National Lottery draws reach more than two and a half times as many adults as scratchcards, and more than three times as many as all betting combined. Note also that online purchase (25.6%) now runs well ahead of in-person (15.5%).
Charity lottery draws at 16.3% are a substantial product in their own right — half again as many players as scratchcards. What that money returns is examined in charity lotteries vs state lotteries.
| Game | All adults | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any National Lottery draw | 31.0% | 34.1% | 28.1% |
| EuroMillions | 22.4% | 25.6% | 19.3% |
| Lotto | 20.6% | 22.6% | 18.8% |
| Set For Life | 6.3% | 6.8% | 5.7% |
| Thunderball | 3.6% | 3.8% | 3.4% |
| Lotto HotPicks | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.2% |
| Other charity lottery draws | 16.3% | 15.2% | 17.4% |
The sex gap on National Lottery draws is real but modest — six points. Charity lottery draws are the only activity in the survey where women's participation exceeds men's.
One detail worth noticing: EuroMillions now outsells Lotto on participation, 22.4% to 20.6%, despite having jackpot odds more than three times longer — 1 in 139,838,160 against 1 in 45,057,474. That is jackpot fatigue working exactly as designed.
| Age | National Lottery draws | Any lottery draw | Any gambling |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–24 | 11.1% | 12.3% | 32.9% |
| 25–34 | 22.1% | 25.7% | 43.1% |
| 35–44 | 32.6% | 36.4% | 49.3% |
| 45–54 | 38.5% | 44.3% | 53.0% |
| 55–64 | 40.9% | 48.1% | 54.8% |
| 65–74 | 36.1% | 44.7% | 50.1% |
| 75+ | 28.7% | 36.9% | 41.5% |
National Lottery participation rises from 11.1% among 18–24s to 40.9% among 55–64s — an increase of a factor of 3.7 — before falling back. Every other product goes the other way: scratchcards peak at 35–44 (16.5%), online instant wins at 25–34 (11.3%), and casino games and slots at 18–24 (8.6% and 7.8%).
The consequence is that once you remove lottery-only players, the age profile of British gambling flips entirely: four-week participation then peaks at 35–44 (33.4%) and falls to 14.2% among the over-75s.
This is the most useful single fact about lottery demographics. The lottery is an older person's product in a young person's industry. Any policy or commentary that treats "gambling participation" as one thing is averaging two populations that barely overlap.
Gallup has tracked the question for decades. Its most recent poll — 2,201 adults, 1 June to 19 July 2026, margin of error ±3 percentage points — found:
The lottery remains by a wide margin the most common form of gambling in America (Gallup, August 2026).
The trend is the striking part. Gallup recorded 49% buying a lottery ticket in 2016 and 31% in 2026 — an 18-point fall in a decade, with total gambling participation dropping from 64% in 2016 to 45%.
The last Gallup release with a full demographic breakdown was July 2016 (About Half of Americans Play State Lotteries), based on 1,025 adults surveyed 14–23 June 2016, ±4 points:
| Household income | Played in past 12 months |
|---|---|
| Under $36,000 | 40% |
| $36,000–89,999 | 56% |
| $90,000 or more | 53% |
| Education | Played in past 12 months |
|---|---|
| High school or less | 47% |
| Technical / some college | 53% |
| College degree | 53% |
| Postgraduate | 45% |
Read that table carefully, because it is the point most commentary gets backwards: participation rises with income. Lower-income Americans are less likely to buy a ticket. The regressivity of lotteries comes from how much is spent by those who do play, not from who plays — the full argument and the spending data are in are lotteries a regressive tax?.
Australia's official series measures money, not people. The Queensland Government Statistician's Office publishes Australian Gambling Statistics, compiled annually since 1984 with all state and territory governments. The 41st edition covers 1999-2000 to 2024-25.
Lottery expenditure per adult, 2024-25:
| Jurisdiction | Lotteries | All gambling |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | $244.08 | $879.09 |
| Queensland | $151.74 | $1,554.71 |
| Victoria | $137.92 | $1,331.65 |
| Tasmania | $139.14 | $895.23 |
| Northern Territory | $135.86 | $1,869.07 |
| South Australia | $132.28 | $1,215.79 |
| New South Wales | $129.11 | $2,035.09 |
| ACT | $66.10 | $961.91 |
| Australia | $147.88 | $1,527.88 |
"Expenditure" here means net player losses, not turnover. National lottery turnover in 2024-25 was $7,953.76m, or $368.27 per adult.
Western Australia stands out at $244.08 — 65% above the national average — and the reason is structural rather than cultural: WA has no non-casino gaming machines, so its $879.09 of total gambling spend has nowhere else to go. Compare New South Wales, where lotteries take $129.11 out of $2,035.09.
Three caveats worth carrying:
For spend per adult by country, computed from operator revenue, see household lottery spend by country.
Last verified: 2026-08-29