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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


Summary

This section provides an overview of the motivations behind young people's experience of gambling activities, as well as the reasons for abstaining from such activities. Additionally, this section will look at young people’s self-reported levels of feeling informed about gambling.

Findings are compared with previous years of the survey to identify trends. Statistically significant differences are highlighted across the years 2022 to 2024, though the 2022 sample did not include year 12 pupils or independent schools and so comparisons with this year are indicative only. Tables and analysis are only included where significant differences between 2024 and 2022 or 2024 and 2023 were identified.

The main reason young people experience and spend their own money on gambling activities is because they believe it to be fun (80 percent), a trend consistent across recent years (2024, 2023 and 2022). The desire to win money also motivates young people, with over a third (37 percent) indicating they experience gambling activities because they feel they have a good chance of winning or because they want to win money (34 percent).

In contrast, young people who do not experience gambling activities tend not to be interested in these activities (36 percent) or acknowledge that it is illegal to do so based on their age (36 percent).

About 4 out of 5 young people (82 percent) feel well informed about the risks of gambling, with a smaller proportion, 2 out of 3 (66 percent) stating they have had conversations with other people about the potential problems associated with gambling.

The proportion of young people feeling well informed increased from 70 percent in 2022 to 81 percent in 2024. However, the proportion of those who felt uninformed also rose from 8 percent in 2022 to 10 percent in 2024. Additionally, the proportion of young people reporting having had people speak to them about gambling risks increased from 50 percent in 2022 to 66 percent in 2024.

Next section
Reasons why young people gamble
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