UK Public Distrusts Gambling Firms, Wants Fewer Shops
Only a quarter of Britons trust the gambling industry, according to a new survey from the think tank More in Common, whose 'Ending A Losing Streak' report found public confidence in gambling firms barely ahead of tobacco and behind most other regulated betting sites and consumer sectors it tested.
The report's headline finding is that just 25% of respondents said they trusted the gambling industry, only four percentage points above the 21% who said they trusted the tobacco industry.
Around 65% of the public said they wanted to see more regulation and restrictions introduced on gambling, with More in Common describing betting shops as widely seen as a "blight" on the high street among focus-group participants in the qualitative research that underpinned the polling.
What The Data Shows
More in Common's polling was conducted across three waves between August and November 2025, with a core sample of 2,032 adults surveyed between 22 and 26 August 2025, alongside two further polls of 2,062 and 1,507 adults in mid-to-late November 2025, all weighted to be representative of the adult population of Great Britain.
That quantitative work was supplemented by four focus groups held online in Brent, Wigan, Clacton and Newmarket, chosen to capture views from different demographic and political profiles.
The survey found that 63% of respondents see a growing number of betting shops in their town as a sign of decline, compared with just 6% who view it as a sign of improvement.
Even among people who gamble themselves, the report notes a persistent distaste for the visible presence of betting shops on local high streets, with authors Andrew Fowler and Charlie Buckley describing that as a rare point of consensus across an otherwise divided debate on gambling policy.
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Little Appetite For Growth
Support for expanding the gambling industry sat below 10% across supporters of every major political party, the one exception being Labour voters, 12% of whom said they would back further growth in the sector.
The findings echo a wider theme identified across More in Common's research. Gambling remains a mainstream leisure activity, with two in five Britons reporting that they gamble in some form, including wagering on betting apps.
That participation coexists with deep and largely unchanged public scepticism about the companies that profit from it.
A Recurring Divide
More in Common, a member of the British Polling Council, has published a series of reports tracking public attitudes on gambling policy as the government continues to implement measures from its 2023 Gambling Act Review White Paper, including advertising restrictions and stake limits on online slots.
The gambling sector has previously argued that tougher restrictions risk pushing bettors toward unregulated, offshore operators outside the Commission's oversight, a concern the report's authors acknowledge exists but say does not appear to be softening public appetite for stricter rules on the licensed market.
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