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
Feeling informed about gambling
Most young people (82 percent) agreed that they feel well informed about the risks of gambling. Almost 2 out of 3 young people (66 percent) indicated that people have spoken to them about the potential problems that gambling can lead to.
Figure 7.3: Feeling informed about gambling
Figure 7.3 information
GC_ATTINF and GC_ATTSPOKEN. Thinking about gambling for money, how strongly do you agree or disagree with the statements below?
Base: All participants answering 'I feel well informed about the risks of gambling' (3,203). 'People have spoken to me about the potential problems that gambling can lead to' (3,199).
| Feeling informed about gambling | I feel well informed about the risks of gambling (percentage) | People have spoken to me about the potential problems that gambling can lead to (percentage) |
|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 51% | 36% |
| Agree | 30% | 30% |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 6% | 12% |
| Disagree | 4% | 9% |
| Strongly disagree | 1% | 3% |
| Do not know | 7% | 11% |
Boys were more likely than girls to feel well informed about the risks of gambling (84 percent compared to 79 percent) and have people speak to them about potential problems it can lead to (68 percent compared to 63 percent).
A higher proportion of 14 to 17 year olds compared to 11 to 13 year olds also reported feeling well informed about the risks of gambling (84 percent compared to 78 percent) and people having spoken to them about potential problems it can lead to (69 percent compared to 61 percent). Conversely, young people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to disagree that people have spoken to them about the problems gambling can lead to than young people from white ethnic backgrounds (14 percent compared to 11 percent).
Young people who had experienced gambling activities in the last 12 months were more likely to agree that that someone had spoken to them about the potential problems that gambling can lead to than young people overall (71 percent compared with 66 percent) and felt more informed (87 percent compared with 82 percent).
The proportion of young people that feel well informed increased from 70 percent in 2023 and 2022 to 82 percent in 2024. However, the same trend was identified for the proportion of young people that do not feel well informed (from 8 percent in 2022, to 7 percent in 2023, to 10 percent in 2024).
The proportion of young people saying that people have spoken to them about the potential problems that gambling can lead to increased from 50 percent in 2022 to 66 percent in 2024.
Table 7.3: Feeling informed about gambling in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 7.3 information
GC_ATTINF. and GC_ATTSPOKEN. Thinking about gambling for money, how strongly do you agree or disagree with the statements below?
Base: All participants answering 'I feel well informed about the risks of gambling' 2024 (3,203), 2023 (2,667), 2022 (2,203).
Base: All participants answering 'People have spoken to me about the potential problems that gambling can lead to' 2024 (3,199), 2023 (2,655), 2022 (2,215).
| I feel well informed about the risks of gambling | 2022 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2023 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 32% | 31% | 51% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Agree | 38% | 39% | 30% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Neither agree or disagree | 10% | 11% | 6% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Disagree | 6% | 5% | 4% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Strongly disagree | 2% | 2% | 1% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Do not know | 12% | 13% | 7% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Net agree | 70% | 70% | 82% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Net disagree | 8% | 7% | 5% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| People have spoken to me about the potential problems that gambling can lead to | 2022 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2023 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Strongly agree | 18% | 21% | 36% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Agree | 32% | 33% | 30% | No significant difference | Significant decrease |
| Neither agree or disagree | 12% | 12% | 12% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Disagree | 13% | 11% | 9% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Strongly disagree | 6% | 6% | 3% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Do not know | 19% | 18% | 11% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Net agree | 50% | 54% | 66% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Net disagree | 19% | 17% | 12% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
Reasons why young people do not gamble
Last updated: 29 November 2024
Show updates to this content
Corrections made to the 2024 column of the 'I feel well informed about the risks of gambling' section of table 7.3.