Regulus Partners partner Dan Waugh visited Westminster last week to put the industry’s concerns around the much maligned GSGB directly to the House of Lords Liaison Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry, telling committee members “there is lots of evidence that the GSGB is not accurate.”
Dan Waugh appeared before the House of Lords Liaison Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of the Gambling Industry last week to share the industry’s concerns over “substantial” inconsistencies in the data delivered by the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.
The Regulus Partners analyst addressed the Committee on 17 June following claims the Gambling Commission overstated problem gambling figures ahead of the 2026 Budget, potentially impacting HM Treasury’s decision on whether to increase tax for the sector.
“We presented evidence to the Gambling Commission, and to DCMS, that shows that the GSGB substantially overstates participation in gambling,” said Waugh during the hearing. “We’ve been able to do that by testing it against hard data from the industry, including the football pools, exchange betting and casino games played in casinos.”
“It’s also worth bearing in mind that the GSGB provides substantially higher figures than all other previous statistics.”
Those statistics, Waugh observed, include the British Gambling Prevalence Survey, the NHS Health Survey for England, the NHS Scottish Health Survey, the NHS Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, the DCMS Taking Part Survey, and the Gambling Commission’s own Quarterly Gambling Survey.
“We’ve got to be careful about this,” Waugh added. “There is lots of evidence that the GSGB is not accurate.”
Waugh’s concerns were backed by the Betting and Gaming Council, which said “the discussion serves as an important reminder that decisions affecting millions of consumers, thousands of jobs and major British industries should be grounded in robust, reliable and transparent evidence.”
“Confidence in the evidence base is essential if policy is to command confidence in the outcome.”
From Waugh’s mouth to the Lords’ ears
Dan Waugh said… “We presented evidence to the Gambling Commission, and to DCMS, that shows that the GSGB substantially overstates participation in gambling…
Originally published on Coinslot on June 29, 2026. Republished with permission.