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 engagement with school and homework
Two questions asked about the impact of gambling on aspects relating to young people and school; firstly, whether young people felt that their active involvement in gambling had ever led to them missing school (this question was asked as part of the youth adapted problem gambling screen (DSM-IV-MR-J)) and, secondly, whether it had made it hard for them to put effort into their schoolwork, homework or personal study.
Impact on school attendance
1 in 20 (5 percent) of those who had spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months noted that this had led them to miss school. Figure 2.4 summarises the extent to which young people who were actively involved in gambling noted that they had missed school as a result.
Figure 2.4: The impact of gambling on school attendance
Figure 2.4 information
GC_LEDRISKEDSCHL. In the past 12 months has your gambling ever led to the following?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'Missing school' (935).
| Impact on school attendance | Never (percentage) | Once or twice (percentage) | Sometimes (percentage) | Often (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missing school | 95% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
There were no statistically significant differences by gender, age or ethnic background in terms of the proportions of young people actively involved in gambling who noted that their gambling had led them to miss school.
Young people with an active involvement in gambling were more likely in the 2024 survey to say that their gambling had led to them missing school at least once (5 percent), than in 2022 and 2023 (2 percent in each year).
Table 2.4: The impact of gambling on school attendance in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 2.4 information
GC_LEDRISKEDSCHL. In the past 12 months has your gambling ever led to the following?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'Missing school' 2022 (728), 2023 (814), 2024 (935).
| Missing school | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never | 98% | 95% | 95% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Once or twice | 1% | 1% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 0% | 0% | 1% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Often | 1% | 1% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Done so at least once in the past 12 months (once or twice, sometimes, often) | 2% | 2% | 5% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
The impact of gambling on engagement with schoolwork
Just over 1 in 20 young people (6 percent) who spent their own money on gambling in the past 12 months noted that their gambling had made it hard for them to put effort into their schoolwork, homework, or personal study, at least sometimes. The breakdown of responses is shown in Figure 2.5.
Figure 2.5: The impact of gambling on engagement with schoolwork
Figure 2.5 information
GC_HARDEFF. 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 'Made it hard for you to put effort into your schoolwork, homework or personal study' (960).
| Impact on schoolwork | Never (percentage) | Rarely (percentage) | Sometimes (percentage) | Often (percentage) | All the time (percentage) | Do not know (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made it hard for you to put effort into your schoolwork, homework or personal study | 89% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 2% |
There were no statistically significant differences by gender, age or ethnic background in the proportions of young people who cited their gambling as having made it hard for them to put effort into their schoolwork, homework, or personal study.
The percentage of young people who reported that their gambling had made it hard for them to put effort into their schoolwork, homework or personal study at least sometimes has shown an increase from previous years (from 3 percent in 2022 and 2023, up to 6 percent in 2024).
Table 2.5: The impact of gambling on engagement with schoolwork in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 2.5 information
GC_LEDRISKEDSCHL. In the past 12 months has your gambling ever led to the following?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'Made it hard for you to put effort into your schoolwork, homework or personal study' 2022 (722), 2023 (852), 2024 (960).
| Made it hard for you to put effort into your schoolwork, homework or personal study | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Never | 93% | 92% | 89% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| Rarely | 1% | 2% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes | 1% | 0% | 2% | No significant difference | Significant increase |
| Often | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| All the time | 1% | 2% | 3% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 3% | 3% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Sometimes, often and all the time | 3% | 3% | 6% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Young people’s feelings when gambling Next section
The impact of gambling on young people’s sleep
Last updated: 7 November 2024
Show updates to this content
No changes to show.