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 young people’s sleep
Young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the past 12 months were asked whether their gambling had impacted on their sleep, either due to worrying about their own gambling or going to bed late because they were gambling. A combination figure for ‘sometimes’, ‘often’, or ‘all of the time’ has been used to report the impact that gambling can have on young people’s sleep, unless specified otherwise.
Over half of young people (55 percent) report experiencing a loss of sleep due to worrying about something over the past year (not including gambling). However, a minority of young people who were actively involved in gambling had lost sleep at night because gambling meant that they went to bed late (5 percent), or because they were worrying about their own gambling (2 percent), at least sometimes.
Figure 2.6: The impact of gambling on sleep
Figure 2.6 information
GC_SLEEPLATE GC_SLEEPWRYGAM GC_SLEEPWRYELSE. Over the past year, how often, if at all, have you lost sleep at night because…
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months answering, 'You have been worrying about your own gambling' (978), 'You went to bed late because you were gambling' (976), 'You have been worrying about something or something else' (3,402).
| The impact of gambling on sleep | Never (percentage) | Rarely (percentage) | Sometimes (percentage) | Often (percentage) | All the time (percentage) | Do not know (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You have been worrying about your own gambling | 93% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| You went to bed late because you were gambling | 91% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| You have been worrying about something or something else | 22% | 20% | 26% | 19% | 10% | 4% |
There were no statistically significant differences by gender, age or ethnic background in the likelihood of young people citing having lost sleep through either worrying about their gambling or staying up late to gamble.
Data trends across the various years remained fairly stable, however there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of young people that indicated that they have been worried about their gambling all the time (1 percent in 2022 compared to 0 percent in 2024). More young people also indicated that they were more likely to go to bed late because they were gambling in 2024 (5 percent sometimes, often and all the time) compared to 2 percent in 2022.
Table 2.6: The impact of gambling on sleep in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 2.6 information
GC_SLEEPLATE GC_SLEEPWRYGAM GC_SLEEPWRYELSE. Over the past year, how often, if at all, have you lost sleep at night because…
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months answering, 'You have been worrying about your own gambling' 2022 (737), 2023 (854), 2024 (978), 'You went to bed late because you were gambling' 2022 (738), 2023 (851), 2024 (976), 'You have been worrying about something or something else' 2022 (2,348), 2023 (2,808), 2024 (3,402).
| You have been worrying about your own gambling | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never | 95% | 95% | 93% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Rarely | 2% | 2% | 3% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Often | 0% | 0% | 0% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| All the time | 0% | 1% | 1% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 1% | 2% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 2% | 2% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| You went to bed late because you were gambling | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Never | 94% | 92% | 91% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| Rarely | 3% | 3% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 0% | 1% | 2% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Often | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| All the time | 1% | 1% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 1% | 1% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 2% | 3% | 5% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| You have been worrying about something or something else | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Never | 17% | 19% | 22% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Rarely | 18% | 18% | 20% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 26% | 27% | 26% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Often | 20% | 19% | 19% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| All the time | 15% | 13% | 10% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Do not know | 3% | 4% | 4% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 61% | 59% | 55% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
All young people who have ever seen family members gamble were asked if worrying about the gambling of a family member or someone else who is responsible for looking after them resulted in them losing sleep due to worrying about this person. Only 4 percent of young people indicated that they have lost sleep, at least sometimes, because they were worrying about the gambling of a family member or someone who is responsible for looking after them.
Figure 2.7: The impact that family members’ gambling can have on young people’s sleep due to worry
Figure 2.7 information
GC_SLEEPFAMGAM. Over the past year, how often, if at all, have you lost sleep at night because…
Base: All answering (3,186).
| The impact of gambling on sleep | Never (percentage) | Rarely (percentage) | Sometimes (percentage) | Often (percentage) | All the time (percentage) | Do not know (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| You have been worrying about the gambling of a family member or someone who is responsible for looking after you | 87% | 5% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 4% |
The impact of gambling on young people’s engagement with school and homework Next section
The impact of gambling on spending
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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