Report
Lived experiences of gambling in teenage boys and young men: Qualitative research
Qualitative research to explore the lived experiences of teenage boys and young men aged 14 to 25 years.
Contents
- About the research
- Summary of findings
- Research approach
- Findings
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- Gambling literacy is low and often surface-level
- Gaming as a potential entry point to gambling
- Turning 18 marks a formal transition to "adult" gambling
- Gambling embedded in social life is more likely to persist
- Money matters more with age and experience
- Online exposure makes gambling feel ever-present
- Risks, impacts, and warning signs
- Conclusions
- Appendix
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
The qualitative design provided a rich and authentic understanding of how participants experience gambling and gambling-like activities in their everyday lives. The approach allowed participants to describe and reflect on their experiences in their own words, as well as through visual evidence, helping reveal the drivers behind their attitudes and behaviours.
Conversation with the Gambling Commission’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) provided the perspective of those with experience of gambling-related harm. This informed our research design, ensuring participants felt comfortable sharing their experiences honestly, and researchers were perceptive to potential harm. Speaking with an academic on the former Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) allowed us to stress test hypotheses and learn from effective qualitative research practice looking at gambling.
Using multiple stages (expert interviews, introductory calls, online diaries, and follow-up depth interviews) enabled the moderators to build rapport and trust with the young people, providing a safe space for them to share their thoughts, experiences, and feelings. Having the same moderator across research stages created a sense of continuity and familiarity, helping enable participants to speak openly and honestly.
Ethical practice was maintained throughout recruitment, fieldwork, and analysis, with clear information provided at every stage to each young person, and parent or guardian for those under 18 years old, and safeguarding procedures in place for participants who disclosed distress or concern. The introductory calls onboarded participants, helping them feel engaged in the project and ensuring they were clear on the research objectives and their tasks before continuing.
The online diary stage provided a private, flexible space for reflection, allowing participants to “show” as well as “tell” their experiences, via written verbatims, voice notes, screenshots and narrated screen recordings of their social media feeds. This helped us capture rich insight into our participants’ day to day lives as well as some more reflective responses on their perceptions of what they are seeing and doing in relation to gambling.
We know that the chance to talk in a group can be a very positive experience, so for the final stage, we asked participants if they would prefer to have a one-to-one conversation with the moderator they had been paired with or be in a small group discussion with other participants of similar ages and shared experiences. All participants chose an individual conversation, but it was crucial for the research to be participant-led and provide both options.
The depth interviews enabled participants to elaborate on the thoughts and experiences they had shared in the online diaries. The moderator helped the participant map their journey of experiences and influences related to gambling, exploring emotions, influences and motivations present at each stage. As the moderators were familiar to the participants, it was easier to delicately explore gambling impacts.
While the qualitative sample was intentionally focused, consistency in participants’ accounts meant we reached a point of data saturation by the end of fieldwork. Similar themes and experiences were being repeated across interviews, giving confidence that the findings capture the core patterns within this group’s experiences.
Limitations
As with all qualitative research, the findings presented here are indicative rather than representative of all males aged between 14 and 25 years old across England, Scotland and Wales.
There is also potential for research reactivity: some participants reported that reflecting on their behaviours prompted greater awareness of gambling risks. While this brought participants valuable knowledge and self-insight (and was felt by participants to be a positive outcome of the research for them) it may have influenced the way in which some participants discussed their experiences.
It was difficult to recruit participants with higher levels of gambling activity, particularly in the 14 to 17 year old age group. However, we achieved a satisfactory spread of activity levels which provided insight into a varied range of attitudes and experiences.
One 18 to 25 year old participant dropped out of the research after the introductory call, however, he was replaced and the new participant completed all stages.
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How teenage boys and young men define gambling
Last updated: 11 December 2025
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