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
Summary
This section of the report examines the impacts experienced by young people as a result of their own or someone else’s gambling, including impacts on relationships, emotions, engagement in school life and levels of sleep. It includes findings from questions relating to harm as well as individual statements from the youth adapted problem gambling screen (DSM-IV-MR-J).
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.
Nearly 1 in 10 young people (9 percent) who had gambled with their own money in the past 12 months reported that their gambling had resulted in them telling lies to family members or friends, whilst a similar proportion (8 percent) noted that it had led to arguments with family or friends.
Around 1 in 10 (9 percent) of young people noted that spending their own money on gambling had made them feel uncomfortable around their friends at least sometimes, and 11 percent reported that gambling activities had led them to talk to their parents about how they feel.
Regarding how gambling makes young people feel, 5 percent of young people who have actively gambled agreed that gambling made them feel sad and 8 percent agreed that it made them feel guilty. Just over a quarter (26 percent) agreed that they felt happy when gambling.
When asked about young people’s engagement with school, 1 in 17 young people (6 percent) who had actively gambled in the last 12 months noted it sometimes made it hard for them to put effort into their schoolwork, homework, or personal study. A similar proportion (5 percent) reported that it had led them to miss school.
A minority (2 percent) of those young people who were actively involved in gambling noted having lost some sleep in the past year due to worrying about their own gambling, whilst 1 in 20 (5 percent) had lost sleep through going to bed late because they were gambling.
Around 1 in 14 (7 percent) of young people who had seen family members gamble noted that it had made them feel worried within the past 12 months, at least sometimes. 1 in 20 (5 percent) reported that it had made them feel sad. A similar proportion of young people noted that gambling had resulted in more arguments or tension at home (9 percent), their parents or guardians having less time to spend with them (7 percent) or stopped them from having enough food (4 percent).
Next sectionThe impact of gambling on relationships
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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