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

Types of gaming machines

Young people who had ever played on arcade gaming machines, fruit or slot machines or other gambling machines were asked what kinds of gaming machines they played. Of these young people, penny falls or penny pusher machines (73 percent) and claw or crane grab machines (70 percent) were the most played games.

Less commonly played were the fruit machine-style games where you win tickets to buy prizes (for example soft toys) (17 percent), and quiz game machines where you win small cash prizes or tickets to buy prizes (14 percent). Plays on fruit machine-style games where you win small cash prizes represented one in ten (10 percent).

Figure 19: Types of gaming machines played

Figure 19 information

FRUITTYPE. Thinking back to the last time you played on arcade gaming machines, fruit or slot machines, or other gambling machines, what sort of machine(s) did you play?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have played arcade gaming machines or fruit and/or slot machines (1,651).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.

Figure 19: Types of gaming machines played.

Type of gaming machine played	Percentage (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent)
Penny falls or penny pusher machines	73%
Claw or crane grab machines	70%
Fruit machine style games where you win tickets to ‘buy’ prizes	17%
Quiz game machines – where you win small cash prizes or tickets to ‘buy’ prizes	14%
Fruit machine style games where you win small cash prizes	10%
Other	2%
Don’t know	8%

Girls were more likely than boys to play penny falls or penny pusher machines (78 percent compared with 69 percent) as well as claw or crane grab machines (75 percent, compared with 66 percent). Penny pusher machines as well as claw or crane grab machines do however rank the highest of use in boys.

Those who define their ethnicity as white were more likely than young people from black or ethnic minority backgrounds to play penny falls or penny pusher machines (78 percent, compared with 54 percent). Those who are categorised as black or of an ethnic minority background are most likely to play claw or crane grab machines (72 percent).

There has been a slight decrease in the likelihood of claw or crane grab machines being the most played arcade games since 2022 (2 percentage point decrease from 72 percent). There has been an increase in girls playing on penny falls or penny pusher machines (4 percentage point increase from 74 percent in 2022).

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Who is with young people when they play gaming machines Next section
Play in an adults-only area

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Last updated: 16 November 2023

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