Report
Young People and Gambling 2023
Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2023.
Contents
- Executive summary
-
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
- The Impact of gambling on young people
- Online gambling
- National Lottery play
- Games and gaming machines
- The Context for gambling participation
-
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
- List of gambling activities and definitions
Variations in gambling experience
Looking at the different gambling activities, across most activities there were few notable differences for age and gender, except for the proportion of 11 to 13 year olds who were more likely to report experience of arcade games such as penny pushers or claw grab machines than young people aged 14 to 16 years old and 17 year olds (33 percent, compared to 28 percent and 25 percent, respectively).
Those who had seen family members gamble were more likely to have experienced most forms of gambling activities in the last 12 months, compared to young people who had not seen their family gamble. This mirrors the rates for active involvement in gambling in the last 12 months; with the differences most notable for activities where family members would be present such as placing a bet with friends or family (28 percent, compared with 13 percent of those who had not seen family members gamble).
Differences by ethnicity are only notable in the higher rates of experience of arcade gaming machines: 32 percent of white 11 to 17 year olds, compared with 24 percent of young people from black and ethnic minority groups. The activity of placing a bet for money between friends and family is also more prevalent amongst young people who define their ethnicity as white (16 percent) than young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds (12 percent).
Reflecting on the different types of gambling activities young people engaged with in 2022, there has been a 6 percentage point decrease in those playing arcade games for 14 to 16 year olds (34 percent in 2022).
The disparity between ethnic groups of experience of arcade games is reflective of the trends of 2022, there has however been a decrease in prevalence for those from white ethnic groups (6 percentage point decrease from 38 percent).
Previous sectionOverall gambling experience in the last 12 months
Last updated: 16 November 2023
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