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Report

Young People and Gambling 2023: Official statistics

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2023.

Contents


Headline statistics

26 percent of 11 to 17 year olds spent their own money on gambling in the twelve months prior to taking part in the survey.

During that period, the most common types of gambling activity that young people spent their own money on were legal or did not feature age restricted products, namely:

  • playing arcade gaming machines such as penny pusher or claw grab machines (19 percent)
  • placing a bet for money between friends or family (11 percent)
  • playing cards with friends or family for money (5 percent).

19 percent of young people were spending their own money on regulated forms of gambling (which includes some activities that are legal and played within licensed premises), and 14 percent on unregulated forms of gambling (gambling activities which fall outside the remit of the Gambling Commission).

The youth-adapted problem gambling screen (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition - Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J)) identified 0.7 percent of 11 to 17 year olds as problem gamblers, 1.5 percent as at risk gamblers and 23 percent as non-problem gamblers.

Three in ten (28 percent) young people had seen the family members they live with gamble, with 14 percent indicating that it had resulted in arguments or tension at home. Just over one in ten (11 percent) said that their own gambling had led them to talk to their parents about how they felt while 6 percent said that gambling had made them feel uncomfortable around their friends (such as feeling embarrassed or feeling friends would not approve).

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Introduction
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Presentation and interpretation of data
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