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.

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Published
7 November 2024

Last updated
7 November 2024 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics

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• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headline statistics
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Acknowledgements
• 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
• • Applying the DSM-IV-MR-J youth adapted problem gambling screen
  • Research design
  • Sample profile
• List of gambling activities and definitions
• • List of gambling activities
  • Definitions

Experience of ever seeing a family member gambling

A quarter of young people (26 percent) have seen a family member they live with gamble. However, 3 out of 5 (61 percent) have not.

Figure 2.9: Experience of ever seeing family members gambling

Figure 2.9 information

GC_FAMGAM. Have you ever seen any of the family members that you live with gambling? When we talk about gambling, we mean any activity which involves risking money (or something of value) in a game or a bet in the hope of winning money or a prize.
Base: All participants (answering) (3,396).

Experience of ever seeing family members gambling

Experience of family members gambling	2024 (percentage)
Yes	26%
No	61%
Do not know	13%

Boys were more likely than girls to have seen their family members gamble (29 percent compared to 23 percent).

Young people from white ethnic groups (31 percent) were more likely than young people from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds (15 percent) to have seen a family member gamble.

Young people that have experienced gambling in the last 7 days (42 percent) or 4 weeks (40 percent) were more likely to have seen a member of their family gamble compared to young people that have experienced gambling in the last 12 months (36 percent).

The proportion of young people who have seen family members gambling remains consistent across the surveys in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

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The impact of gambling on spending Next section
The impact of family members’ gambling on young people

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Last updated: 7 November 2024

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