The UK Gambling Commission’s head of research believes the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) will soon give the regulator an “unprecedented volume and breadth of data” to better understand the market.

Laura Balla said the UKGC will “continue making improvements” to the GSGB following the publication of the second wave of data in June.

The regulator is also set to publish the GSGB’s first annual report next week.

The GSGB is spearheading the Gambling Commission’s renewed efforts to produce better data about the UK market as part of its Evidence Gaps and Priorities programme. The studies and initiatives involved are also aimed at helping to understand player habits better and assist in the research, education and prevention of gambling harms.

Balla said in a blog post that improvements to the GSGB “will help us to make greater progress on the identified gaps.”

“We are also beginning to build our knowledge around the size of the unlicensed online gambling market, and the pathways into it, however there will be more work to do on this topic in the coming months,” she added.

“While we conducted some small longitudinal research projects last year as part of the Consumer Voice programme, we still need large scale longitudinal research conducted over longer time periods to really understand how behaviour changes over time and the factors that influence those changes.

“The GSGB presents a fantastic opportunity to recontact respondents for further research, so we will be exploring the feasibility of developing longitudinal follow-ups in the year ahead.

“We encourage all parties working in this space to continue to share the great work that they are doing with us so that we can continue to regulate gambling on the basis of robust, high-quality evidence going forward.”