Official stats ‘misuse’ rankles Gambling Commission top brass

Without citing who or when or what the circumstances were – or how many instances they were referring to, the Gambling Commission recently fired a warning shot over the ‘misuse’ of their official statistics.

Reminder about stats misuse

Little more than a year on from Gambling Commission CEO Andrew Rhodes’ open letter, the Commission’s Director of Research and Statistics, Ben Haden has waded in with a heavy-handed reminder:

“We have and will continue to take action wherever we see misuse of our official statistics.”

Haden used a 19 September blog article (on the ongoing analysis of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain) to remind the industry not to misrepresent their data. Curiously the warning came at the end of the article and could well have been missed by many.

What has triggered this?

Whereas Rhodes’ statement came at the height of the Commission’s spat with the Racing Post, it’s unclear what instigated Haden’s need to issue a reminder. 

Readers who did notice Haden’s comments about data misuse will surely want to know what he’s referring to. Is this happening on a widespread scale? Are these simple mistakes by those presenting or re-presenting the data or is there something else, more wilful, at play? 

Explanation needed

Considering the row that erupted when the Gambling Commission essentially tried to suppress affordability checks survey data, there is more than a touch of irony about the position the Commission takes on the presentation (or not) of stats.

The industry needs more of an explanation.