Report
Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics
Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2024.
Contents
- Executive summary
- Young people’s active involvement in gambling
- Summary
- Definitions
- Young people's active involvement in gambling
- The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition – Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) problem gambling screen
- The impacts of gambling on young people
- Summary
- The impact of gambling on relationships
- Young people’s feelings when gambling
- The impact of gambling on young people’s engagement with school and homework
- The impact of gambling on young people’s sleep
- The impact of gambling on spending
- Experience of ever seeing a family member gambling
- The impact of family members’ gambling on young people
- Wider experience of gambling
- Summary
- Wider experience and active involvement in gambling
- Experience of different gambling activities
- Who young people were with when they experienced gambling activities
- Being stopped from gambling for being too young
- Setting gambling in the context of other risk taking behaviours
- Games and gaming machines
- Summary
- Young people spending their own money on games and gaming machines
- Overall experience of playing games and gaming machines
- Who young people were with when they played gaming machines
- Types of gaming machine played
- Playing arcade machines in adults-only areas
- Online gambling
- Summary
- Young people’s active involvement in online gambling
- Overall experience of online gambling
- Online gambling using parents’ or guardians’ accounts
- Paying for and betting with in-game items in video games
- Methods of paying for in-game items and to open loot boxes
- Lotteries and lottery style games
- Summary
- Active involvement with lotteries and lottery style games
- Wider experience of lotteries and lottery style games
- Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
- Who young people were with when playing lotteries and lottery style games
- Attitudes towards gambling and reasons for gambling
- Summary
- Reasons why young people gamble
- Reasons why young people do not gamble
- Feeling informed about gambling
- Recall of gambling adverts and promotion
- Summary
- Recall of gambling advertising or promotions
- Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions
- Perceived impact of gambling adverts on unplanned spending
- Engagement with gambling related content on social media and streaming platforms
- Appendices
- List of gambling activities and definitions
Sample profile
Profile of young people
Table A.5 outlines the details of the sample profile for the 2024 study; covering all 11 to 17 year olds (and the small number of 18 year olds) who participated in the Young People Omnibus (YPO).
Table A.5 - Sample profile 2024
| Sample group | Unweighted (number) | Unweighted (percentage) | Weighted (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 3,869 | 100% | 100% |
| Gender of pupils | |||
| Male | 1,767 | 46% | 48% |
| Female | 1,931 | 50% | 47% |
| Non-binary | 46 | 1% | 1% |
| My gender is not listed | 59 | 2% | 2% |
| Prefer not to say | 66 | 2% | 2% |
| Age of pupils | |||
| 11 | 152 | 4% | 4% |
| 12 | 674 | 17% | 18% |
| 13 | 651 | 17% | 19% |
| 14 | 682 | 18% | 20% |
| 15 | 828 | 21% | 21% |
| 16 | 472 | 12% | 12% |
| 17 | 386 | 10% | 6% |
| 18 | 24 | 1% | Less than 0.5% |
| Year of pupils1 | |||
| 7 | 723 | 19% | 19% |
| 8 | 665 | 17% | 19% |
| 9 | 597 | 15% | 19% |
| 10 | 770 | 20% | 18% |
| 11 | 609 | 16% | 18% |
| 12 | 505 | 13% | 7% |
| Ethnic origin | |||
| White | 2,772 | 72% | 69% |
| Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) | 1,039 | 27% | 30% |
| Region | |||
| London | 271 | 7% | 14% |
| South East | 652 | 17% | 14% |
| South West | 216 | 6% | 8% |
| North East | 125 | 3% | 4% |
| North West | 416 | 11% | 11% |
| East of England | 342 | 9% | 10% |
| East Midlands | 721 | 19% | 8% |
| West Midlands | 320 | 8% | 10% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 259 | 7% | 9% |
| Scotland | 343 | 9% | 7% |
| Wales | 204 | 5% | 4% |
Profile of schools
In this section we analyse how the sample of participating schools compares with the population of schools that are eligible for YPO (such as maintained secondary schools in England, Wales and Scotland). The information for England and Wales is drawn from Department for Education's (DfE’s) ‘Get Information About Schools’ database, and the equivalent for Scotland. Less detailed information is available on the sampling frames for schools in Wales and Scotland, and the analysis is based on the information available for each nation for each variable. We analyse the profiles of schools for a range of variables, including school type; regional distribution; urban or rural profile; and proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.
Type of establishment
Figures for type of establishment are shown in Table A.6. The proportions in the population and starting sample are similar, except for a higher proportion of academies and a lower proportion of independent schools selected within the sample. For the schools who participated, there is a slight over-representation in the proportion of local authority maintained schools and Scottish schools, and a slight under-representation of independent schools and free schools, which was corrected by weighting the data.
Table A.6: Profile of school type for school population and YPO starting or participating sample
| School type | Percentage of population (all schools eligible to be sampled) | Percentage of all schools sampled for YPO 2024 | Percentage of schools participating in YPO 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academies | 59% | 66% | 60% |
| Free schools | 6% | 5% | 3% |
| Local authority maintained schools | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| Independent schools | 10% | 4% | 4% |
| Welsh schools | 5% | 4% | 6% |
| Scottish schools | 6% | 6% | 10% |
The regional breakdown of the population, starting sample, and participating sample is shown in Table A.7. The participating sample over-represents schools in Scotland compared with the starting sample and population, and slightly underrepresents schools in London.
Table A.7: Regional profile for school population and YPO starting or participating sample
| Region | Percentage of population (all schools eligible to be sampled) | Percentage of all schools sampled for YPO 2024 | Percentage of schools participating in YPO 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 8% | 8% | 9% |
| East of England | 10% | 10% | 10% |
| London | 15% | 15% | 10% |
| North East | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| North West | 11% | 12% | 14% |
| Scotland | 6% | 6% | 10% |
| South East | 15% | 15% | 13% |
| South West | 9% | 8% | 7% |
| Wales | 4% | 4% | 6% |
| West Midlands | 11% | 11% | 9% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 8% | 8% | 9% |
The participating sample slightly over-represents schools in urban areas, and under-represents schools in rural areas, when compared to both the sampled schools and eligible population.
Table A.8: Rural or urban profile for school population and YPO starting or participating sample
| Urban or rural | Percentage of population (all schools eligible to be sampled) | Percentage of all schools sampled for YPO 2024 | Percentage of schools participating in YPO 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| All urban | 85% | 87% | 93% |
| All rural | 15% | 13% | 7% |
Table A.9 shows the proportions eligible for Free School Meals in England. The figures for the population and starting sample are broadly comparable, whereas the figure is lower for the schools who participated.
Table A.9: School size, and average percent pupils eligible for free school meals for school population and YPO starting or participating sample
| Data definitions | Percentage of population (all schools eligible to be sampled) | Percentage of all schools sampled for YPO 2024 | Percentage of schools participating in YPO 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average percentage free school meals (England and Wales) | 19.99% | 19.96% | 16.82% |
The sample of schools participating in YPO 2024 is broadly representative of the population, with a similar profile in terms of types of establishments, regions, free school meals, and urbanity profile. Differences in the profile of the achieved sample compared with the population are taken into account within the weighting of survey findings.
References
1 Or equivalent year groups in Scotland.
Research design
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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