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.
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
- 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
- List of gambling activities and definitions
Who young people were with when they gambled
Most (74 percent) young people who have experience of gambling were with their parents or guardians the last time they did so. Young people are rarely alone when they gamble; as shown in Figure 25, 39 percent were with their friends aged 17 or under and 27 percent were with siblings or friends aged 17 or under.
Figure 25: Who young people were with when gambling
Figure 25 information
GAMSPEND2. Last time you did [this activity or these activities] who were you with?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have played… (1,969).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
| Who young people were with when gambling | Percentage (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Parent(s), carer(s) or guardian(s) | 74% |
| Friend(s) aged 17 or younger | 39% |
| Brother or sister(s) aged 17 or younger | 27% |
| Brother or sister(s) aged 18 or older | 14% |
| Others | 9% |
| I was alone | 8% |
| Friend(s) aged 18 or older | 5% |
Playing National Lottery scratchcards (77 percent); placing a bet at a betting shop or bookies (73 percent) or on a betting website or app (71 percent) were among the gambling activities that young people were most likely to do in the company of their parents or guardians.
Playing casino games online (36 percent) and placing a bet on e-Sports (32 percent) were the gambling activities that young people were more likely to do alone. However, due to online age verification it is likely to be the case that young people were taking part in free to play games that are similar to casino or bingo games.
Playing National Lottery scratchcards was also the most likely gambling activity for young people to take part in with their parents, carers or guardians in 2022. Playing casino games online was also the most likely gambling activity for young people to take part in alone in 2022, however the second most likely activity for young people to take part in alone was playing bingo online.
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Last updated: 16 November 2023
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