Report

Young People and Gambling 2022: Official statistics

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2022.

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Published
10 November 2022

Last updated
31 October 2024 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2022: Official statistics

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• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headline statistics
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Acknowledgements
• Young people’s active involvement in gambling
• • Summary
  • Young people's active involvement in gambling
  • Variations in active involvement in gambling
  • Variations in active involvement in types of gambling activities
  • Prevalence of non-problem, at risk or problem gambling
  • Problem gambling by gender
  • Problem gambling by age
  • Problem gambling by ethnicity
• Experience of gambling
• • Summary
  • Overall gambling experience
  • Overall gambling experience in the last 12 months
  • Variations in gambling experience
• The Impact of gambling on young people
• • Summary
  • How gambling impacts on relations with friends and family
  • How gambling makes young people feel
  • The impact of gambling on sleep
  • The impact of gambling on spending
  • The impact of gambling on schoolwork
  • Experience and impact of family members’ gambling
• Online gambling
• • Summary
  • Young people’s active involvement in online gambling
  • Overall experience of online gambling
  • Online gambling using parent's or guardian's accounts
  • Awareness and use of in-game items in video games
• National Lottery play
• • Summary
  • Young people’s active involvement with lottery products
  • Wider experience of lottery games
  • Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
  • Who young people are with when playing a National Lottery product?
• Games and gaming machines
• • Summary
  • Young people’s active involvement in games and gaming machines
  • Overall experience of games and gaming machines play
  • Who is with young people when they play gaming machines?
  • Types of gaming machines
  • Play in an adults-only area
• The Context for gambling participation
• • Summary
  • Setting gambling in the context of other risk-taking behaviours
  • Setting gambling in the context of other activities
  • Reasons why young people gamble
  • Why young people don’t gamble
  • Who young people were with when they gambled
• Attitudes towards and exposure to gambling
• • Summary
  • Young people’s views on gambling
  • Feeling informed about gambling
  • Being stopped from gambling
  • Young people’s exposure to gambling adverts and promotions and frequency of exposure
  • Content of gambling adverts and promotions seen
  • Whether ever prompted to gamble by adverts and promotions
  • Following gambling companies on social media
• Appendices
• • Applying the DSM-IV-MR-J problem gambler screen
  • Research design
  • Sample profile
• List of gambling activities and definitions
• • List of gambling activities
  • Definitions

Summary

This section focuses on lottery play, examining in more detail active involvement and experience with National Lottery products and looking at who young people are with when they play.

Summary

Overall, 10 percent of 11 to 16 year olds have played a National Lottery game in the last 12 months. However, only 2 percent of young people were actively involved having spent their own money on a lottery game during that period, with just 1 percent spending their own money on a National Lottery draw or buying a National Lottery scratchcard or taking part in National Lottery instant win games.

It’s important to note that most young people were in the company of their parents, carers or guardians when purchasing a National Lottery product and in most cases, they did not make the purchase themselves.

The research highlights differences in play by product, with older age groups more likely to have played National Lottery scratchcards in the last 12 months (9 percent of 14 to 16 year olds compared with 7 percent of 11 to 13 year olds). National Lottery scratchcard play is also more likely to happen with siblings or friends aged 18 or older (10 percent compared with 4 percent of those playing a National Lottery draw). In contrast, young people were more likely to be alone when playing a National Lottery draw (10 percent) than National Lottery scratchcards (4 percent).

This section covers participation in National Lottery games over the last 12 months. Legislation changed in 2021 to increase the age people can play National Lottery games to 18 years old (opens in new tab).

Next section
Young people’s active involvement with lottery products

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Last updated: 31 October 2024

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Formatting updated.