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
The impact of gambling on spending
Young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the past 12 months were asked whether their gambling had helped them buy things that they needed or stopped them buying things that they wanted. Young people were most likely to highlight that gambling had helped them to buy things that they needed either all of the time, often or sometimes (12 percent). They were less likely to say that their own gambling stopped them from buying things that they wanted (6 percent).
Figure 2.8: The impact of gambling on spending
Figure 2.8 information
GC_GAMBSTBUY GC_GAMBHPBUY. Thinking about the last 12 months, how often, if at all, has your own gambling led to any of the following things?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'Helped you buy things you have needed' (961). 'Stopped you from buying things you have wanted' (962).
| The impact of gambling on spending | Never (percentage) | Rarely (percentage) | Sometimes (percentage) | Often (percentage) | All the time (percentage) | Do not know (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helped you buy things you have needed | 76% | 8% | 6% | 2% | 4% | 4% |
| Stopped you from buying things you have wanted | 87% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 3% |
Boys were more likely than girls to say that gambling has sometimes helped them buy things they needed (14 percent compared to 9 percent). Boys were also more likely to say that their gambling has sometimes stopped them from buying things they needed (14 percent boys compared to 9 percent girls).
Young people from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds (17 percent) were more likely than young people from white ethnic backgrounds (11 percent) to say that their gambling has sometimes helped them buys things they needed.
Young people that were actively involved in unregulated gambling (13 percent) were also more likely to indicate that their gambling has helped them buy things that they needed compared to those that were actively involved in regulated gambling (8 percent).
Data trends across the various years remained fairly stable, with no significant changes between the various years in terms of young people indicating that their gambling has helped them to buy things they needed. However, more young people indicated that their gambling helped them buy things they needed all the time (4 percent in 2024 compared to 2 percent in 2022).
Table 2.8: The impact of gambling on spending
Table 2.8 information
GC_GAMBSTBUY GC_GAMBHPBUY. Thinking about the last 12 months, how often, if at all, has your own gambling led to any of the following things?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'Helped you buy things you have needed' 2022 (720), 2023 (850), 2024 (961). 'Stopped you from buying things you have wanted' 2022 (721), 2023 (850), 2024 (962).
| Helped you buy things you have needed | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never | 76% | 82% | 76% | No significant difference | Significant decrease |
| Rarely | 7% | 5% | 8% | No significant difference | Significant increase |
| Sometimes | 6% | 5% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Often | 4% | 2% | 2% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| All the time | 2% | 3% | 4% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 4% | 4% | 4% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 12% | 10% | 12% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Stopped you from buying things you have wanted | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Never | 88% | 89% | 87% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Rarely | 4% | 3% | 4% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 2% | 2% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Often | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| All the time | 1% | 2% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 3% | 3% | 3% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 5% | 5% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
The impact of gambling on young people’s sleep Next section
Experience of ever seeing a family member gambling
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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