Report

Young People and Gambling 2023

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

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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

Who is with young people when they play gaming machines

The majority of young people have someone else present when they play arcade gaming machines (90 percent) or fruit and slot machines (82 percent). In both instances, for around half of young people this is typically a parent or guardian (55 percent for arcade gaming machines and 53 percent for fruit and slot machines).

While parents or guardians are most likely to be accompanying the young person playing an arcade gaming machine, this is more prevalent amongst those aged 11 to 13 years old (63 percent) than those aged 14 to 16 years old (50 percent) or those aged 17 years old (36 percent).

Compared to those aged 11 to 13 years old, young people aged 14 to 16 years old are more likely to be accompanied by friends who were aged 17 years old and younger (38 percent, compared with 26 percent).

When playing arcade gaming machines, only a minority (4 percent) were alone when playing. Boys were more likely to be alone than girls (6 percent, compared with 1 percent).

Parents and guardians are most likely to be present with young people who have someone with them when playing arcade gaming machines and fruit and slot machines, however this has seen a slight decrease in comparison to 2022 (2 percentage point decrease from 57 percent for arcade gaming machines and 7 percentage point decrease for fruit and slot machines).

Figure 18: Who young people were with when playing games and gaming machines

Figure 18 information

GAMSPEND2. Last time you did [this activity and/or these activities] who were you with?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have played arcade gaming machines (1,640), fruit or slot machines (403).
Note: This chart shows responses for two separate questions, so the total will not add up to 100 percent.

Figure 18: Who young people were with when playing games and gaming machines.

Who young people were with when playing games and gaming machines	Percentage who were playing arcade gaming machines (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent)	Percentage who were playing fruit or slot machine (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent)
Parent(s), carer(s) or guardian(s)	55%	53%
Friend(s) aged 17 years old or younger	33%	20%
Brother(s) or sister(s) aged 17 years old or younger	22%	17%
Brother(s) or sister(s) aged 18 years old or older	9%	8%
Friend(s) aged 18 years old or older	2%	6%
I was alone	4%	5%
Others	5%	3%

Previous section
Overall experience of games and gaming machines play Next section
Types of gaming machines

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Last updated: 16 November 2023

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