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Report

Young People and Gambling 2023

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2023.

Published
16 November 2023

Last updated
16 November 2023 - Changes

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Contents

How gambling makes young people feel

Young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months were asked how it affected their happiness, and whether it ever made them feel sad or guilty.

For the majority, their involvement in gambling does not lead to feelings of guilt or sadness: only 4 percent agreed with the statement ‘I feel sad when I gamble’ and only 6 percent agreed with the statement ‘I feel guilty when I gamble’. They are less clear on whether gambling makes them feel happy; just under one in five (17 percent) agree, but three in ten (29 percent) disagree and a similar proportion (26 percent) are unsure either way.

Figure 6: How gambling makes young people feel

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing how gambling makes young people feel. Data from the chart is provided within the following table.

Figure 6 information

GC_EXPHAP GC_EXPGUIL GC_EXPSAD. Thinking about your experiences of gambling, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'I feel happy when I gamble' (805). 'I feel guilty when I gamble' (802). 'I feel sad when I gamble' (803).

Figure 6: How gambling makes young people feel
How gambling makes young people feel Percentage who strongly agree Percentage who agree Percentage who neither agree nor disagree Percentage who disagree Percentage who strongly disagree Percentage who don't know
I feel sad when I gamble 3% 1% 14% 27% 29% 26%
I feel guilty when I gamble 3% 3% 15% 25% 28% 25%
I feel happy when I gamble 4% 13% 28% 13% 16% 26%

Those young people in the ‘at risk’ group were significantly more likely than all responders and those deemed to be ‘non-problem gamblers’ to agree that gambling makes them happy (32 percent compared to 17 percent and 14 percent respectively).

This year, the ‘at risk’ group were also more likely than ‘non-problem’ gamblers to disagree that gambling makes them feel sad (69 percent compared to 54 percent).

Those aged 13 years old were more likely to disagree with the statements that they feel happy when they gamble (35 percent compared to 29 percent) and that they feel sad when they gambled, compared to all respondents (62 percent compared to 55 percent) and those in a slightly younger age group (62 percent compared to 50 percent of 12 year olds). Respondents aged 13 were also more likely than all other respondents to disagree that they felt guilty when they gamble (60 percent compared to 54 percent).

Boys were more likely than girls to agree that gambling makes them feel guilty (10 percent compared to 2 percent). However, this pattern was not apparent in 2022. While the proportion for girls has remained constant since 2022, the proportion of boys who agreed that gambling makes them feel guilty has increased by 5 percentage points from 5 percent in 2022.

There was no difference by ethnicity.

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How gambling impacts on relations with friends and family Next section
The impact of gambling on sleep
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