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
Reasons why young people gamble
For the purpose of this study 'gambling’ includes things like buying Lottery tickets, placing a private bet, playing cards for money and playing on fruit machines.
8 out of 10 young people (80 percent) who spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months, did so because they regard it as ‘fun’. This is by far the most common reason for active gambling. However, the prospect of winning money is a key driver for some young people. Over one third (37 percent) gambled because they felt they had a good chance of winning something (even if not a big prize); whilst another third (34 percent) indicated that they did so with the intention of winning money.
Around 3 out of 10 (33 percent) young people indicated their reason for gambling was the simplicity of the games they played. A similar proportion cited that it gave them something to do (29 percent). For more detail, please refer to as per Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1: Reasons why young people gamble
Figure 7.1 information
GC_SPENDWHY: Thinking about when you have spent your money on [gambling activity], why did you do this?
Base: All participants (answering) who spent their own money in the last 12 months on... (1,015)
Note: This is a multiple response questions, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Reasons for gambling | Percentage (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Because it is fun | 80% |
| I have a good chance of winning something (even if not a big prize or jackpot)s | 37% |
| To try to win money | 34% |
| The games are simple to play | 33% |
| It gives me something to do | 29% |
| I have a chance to win a jackpot or big prize | 29% |
| Because I like to take risks | 23% |
| To get a buzz or because it is exciting | 22% |
| Because it is cool | 17% |
| It helps me or cheers me up when I feel down, nervous or in a bad mood | 13% |
| It's something my parents or guardians do | 10% |
| Money goes to good causes | 10% |
| It is something my friends do or I do not want to feel left out | 10% |
The proportion of young people who said that gambling gave them something to do decreased from 35 percent in 2022 to 29 percent in 2024. However, the proportion of young people who said that they gamble to have a chance to win a jackpot or big prize increased from 24 percent in 2022 to 29 percent in 2024.
Table 7.1: Reasons why young people gamble in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 7.1 information
GC_SPENDWHY: Thinking about when you have spent your money on [gambling activity], why did you do this
Base: All participants (answering) who spent their own money in the last 12 months on... 2022 (789), 2023 (879), 2024 (1,015)
Note: This is a multiple response questions, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Reasons for 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Because it is fun | 78% | 80% | 80% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| I have a good chance of winning something (even if not a big prize or jackpot) | 34% | 36% | 37% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| To try to win money | 32% | 34% | 34% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| The games are simple to play | 34% | 31% | 33% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| It gives me something to do | 35% | 30% | 29% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| I have a chance to win a jackpot or big prize | 24% | 27% | 29% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Because I like to take risks | 23% | 21% | 23% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| To get a buzz or because it is exciting | 24% | 22% | 22% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Because it is cool | 13% | 13% | 17% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| It helps me or cheers me up when I feel down, nervous or in a bad mood | 16% | 15% | 13% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| It is something my parents or guardians do | 10% | 9% | 10% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Money goes to good causes | 10% | 9% | 10% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| It is something my friends do or I do not want to feel left out | 8% | 9% | 10% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
Summary Next section
Reasons why young people do not gamble
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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