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.

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Published
16 November 2023

Last updated
16 November 2023 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2023: 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
  • Awareness and use of virtual money or tokens to bet on sports matches
• 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 do not 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

Content of gambling adverts and promotions seen

Young people who had been exposed to gambling adverts or promotions were asked what the last one they had seen was about.

The research findings show that young people were most likely to recall seeing an advert or promotion about ‘lotteries’ (mentioned by 43 percent). Over one third recalled the last gambling advert they saw as being about betting (36 percent) or about bingo (35 percent) and three in ten remember it being about casinos (29 percent). However, one quarter of those who had seen adverts could not remember or did not know what it was about (25 percent).

This is reflective of the findings in 2022.

Figure 30: Nature of gambling adverts seen

Figure 30 information

GC_ADABOUT. And thinking about the last time you saw or heard a gambling advert; do you remember what it was about?
Base: All participants answering who have seen and/or heard any gambling adverts or promotions (2,040).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.

Figure 30: Nature of gambling adverts seen.

Nature of gambling advert	Percentage who have seen (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent).
Lotteries	43%
Betting	36%
Bingo	35%
Online slots and/or casinos	29%
Can’t remember	16%
Don’t know	9%
Other	1%

There were also some differences by gender in the content of gambling adverts that young people had last seen. For example, girls were more likely than boys to have last seen an advert about the lottery (48 percent, compared with 39 percent), or bingo (40 percent compared with 29 percent). Whereas boys were more likely than girls to have last seen an advert about betting (43 percent, compared with 29 percent of girls) and online slots or casinos (31 percent, compared with 25 percent).

There were some notable age differences regarding the content of gambling adverts that young people had last seen, with 17 year olds more likely to have seen a betting advert than those aged 11 to 13 years old or 14 to 16 years old (56 percent compared to 29 percent and 39 percent). Those aged 14 to 16 years old are more likely than 11 to 13 year olds to have last seen an advert about betting (39 percent compared with 29 percent) or online slots and casinos (32 percent compared with 25 percent).

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Young people's exposure to gambling adverts and promotions and frequency of exposure Next section
Whether ever prompted to gamble by adverts and promotions

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Last updated: 16 November 2023

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