Over half of young people (59 percent) report experiencing a loss of sleep due to worrying about something over the past year (not including gambling). Girls were significantly more likely than boys to say that they lost sleep due to worrying about something (70 percent compared to 46 percent).

However, a minority of young people who were actively involved in gambling had lost sleep at night because gambling meant that they went to bed late (3 percent) or because they were worrying about their own gambling (2 percent) either all of the time, often or sometimes.

The survey results indicate that 4 percent of all 11 to 17 year olds we surveyed lost sleep because they were worried about a family member, or someone that is responsible for them, gambling.

Figure 7: The impact of gambling on sleep

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing. The impact of gambling on sleep_2023. Data from the chart is provided within the following table.

Figure 7 information

GC_SLEEPLATE GC_SLEEPWRYGAM GC_SLEEPWRYELSE GC_SLEEPFAMGAM. Over the past year, how often, if at all, have you lost sleep at night because…
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering, 'You have been worrying about the gambling of a family member or someone who is responsible for looking after you' (2,614).
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months answering, 'You have been worrying about your own gambling' (854).
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months answering, 'You went to bed late because you were gambling' (851).
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering, 'You have been worrying about something or something else' (2,808).

Figure 7: The impact of gambling on sleep
The impact of gambling on sleep	Percentage who never	Percentage who rarely	Percentage who sometimes	Percentage who often	Percentage who all the time	Percentage who don't know
You have been worrying about the gambling of a family member or someone who is responsible for looking after you	87%	5%	2%	1%	1%	4%
You have been worrying about your own gambling	95%	2%	1%	0%	1%	2%
You went to bed late because you were gambling	92%	3%	1%	1%	1%	2%
You have been worrying about something (something else)	19%	18%	27%	19%	13%	4%

‘Non-problem’ gamblers were more likely than ‘at risk’ gamblers to say that they ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ went to bed late because of gambling (97 percent compared to 82 percent).

Conversely, ‘at risk’ gamblers were more likely than 'non-problem' gamblers to say that they went to bed late due to gambling ‘all the time or often’ (11 percent compared to 0.4 percent). ‘At risk gamblers were also more likely than ‘non-problem’ gamblers to say that they lost sleep due to worrying about their gambling ‘all of the time/often’ (2 percent compared to less than 1 percent).

Girls were more likely than boys to say they lost sleep due to worrying about their gambling rarely or never (99 percent compared to 95 percent) while those from black and minority ethnic groups were more likely than those who define their ethnicity as white to say that they lost sleep due to worrying about their gambling (5 percent compared to 1 percent).

Those aged 13 years old were more likely than all respondents to say they had lost sleep due to worrying about a family members gambling (7 percent compared to 4 percent).

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Last updated: 16 November 2023

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Young People and Gambling 2023

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The impact of gambling on sleep

Figure 7: The impact of gambling on sleep

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