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
Young people’s feelings when gambling
Young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months were asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed that they felt sad, guilty and/or happy when gambling.
1 in 20 young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the past 12 months (5 percent) either agreed or strongly agreed that they felt sad when gambling. This compares to 6 in 10 (60 percent) who either disagreed or strongly disagreed that they had felt sad when gambling. A further 14 percent neither agreed nor disagreed, whilst 21 percent stated they did not know.
Around 1 in 12 young people who had spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months (8 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that they felt guilty when gambling. This compared to 55 percent who disagreed or strongly disagreed that they had felt guilty.
Just over a quarter of young people (27 percent) agreed or strongly agreed that they felt happy when gambling, which was around the same proportion as those who disagreed or strongly disagreed (28 percent). Figure 2.3 shows a detailed breakdown of responses.
Figure 2.3: How young people felt when gambling
Figure 2.3 information
GC_EXPHAP GC_EXPGUIL GC_EXPSAD. Thinking about your experiences of gambling, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'I feel sad when I gamble' (919), 'I feel guilty when I gamble' (918), 'I feel happy when I gamble' (922).
| How young people felt when gambling | Strongly agree (percentage) | Agree (percentage) | Neither agree nor disagree (percentage) | Disagree (percentage) | Strongly disagree (percentage) | Do not know (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I feel sad when I gamble | 4% | 2% | 14% | 27% | 33% | 21% |
| I feel guilty when I gamble | 4% | 4% | 16% | 26% | 29% | 21% |
| I feel happy when I gamble | 9% | 17% | 23% | 14% | 15% | 22% |
Boys were significantly more likely than girls to agree or strongly agree that they felt happy when they gamble (32 percent, compared to 21 percent) and were also more likely to have felt guilty when gambling (10 percent, compared to 5 percent).
Young people aged 14 to 17 years old were more likely than those aged 11 to 13 years old to agree or strongly agree that they had felt happy when gambling (31 percent, compared to 19 percent), though were no more or less likely to have felt sad or guilty when gambling.
Young people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely than those from white ethnic backgrounds to agree or strongly agree that they had felt happy when gambling (35 percent, compared to 25 percent), though there were no statistically significant differences with regards to feeling sad or guilty.
Trends over time were fairly stable across 2022, 2023 and 2024, though there was an increase in the proportion of young people who had actively gambled who agreed or strongly agreed that they feel guilty when gambling in 2024 compared to 2022 (8 percent compared to 5 percent). There was also an increase over the same period in the proportion who agreed or strongly agreed that they felt happy when gambling (26 percent in 2024, compared to 21 percent in 2022 and 17 percent in 2023).
Table 2.3: How young people felt when gambling in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 2.3 information
GC_EXPHAP GC_EXPGUIL GC_EXPSAD. Thinking about your experiences of gambling, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?
Base: All answering who have spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months 'I feel sad when I gamble' 2022 (692), 2023 (803), 2024 (919), 'I feel guilty when I gamble' 2022 (692), 2023 (802), 2024 (918), 'I feel happy when I gamble' 2022 (690), 2023 (805), 2024 (922).
| I feel sad when I gamble | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 2% | 3% | 4% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Agree | 1% | 1% | 2% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Neither agree or disagree | 15% | 14% | 14% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Disagree | 28% | 27% | 27% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Strongly disagree | 33% | 29% | 33% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 20% | 26% | 21% | No significant difference | Significant decrease |
| Agree and strongly agree | 3% | 4% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Disagree and strongly disagree | 61% | 56% | 60% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| I feel guilty when I gamble | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Strongly agree | 3% | 3% | 4% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Agree | 2% | 3% | 4% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Neither agree or disagree | 18% | 15% | 16% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Disagree | 26% | 25% | 26% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Strongly disagree | 32% | 28% | 29% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 20% | 25% | 21% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Agree and strongly agree | 5% | 6% | 8% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Disagree and strongly disagree | 58% | 53% | 55% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| I feel happy when I gamble | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Strongly agree | 3% | 4% | 9% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Agree | 18% | 13% | 17% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Neither agree or disagree | 29% | 28% | 23% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Disagree | 13% | 13% | 14% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Strongly disagree | 15% | 16% | 15% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Do not know | 22% | 26% | 22% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Agree and strongly agree | 21% | 17% | 26% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Disagree and strongly disagree | 28% | 29% | 29% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
The impact of gambling on relationships Next section
The impact of gambling on young people’s engagement with school and homework
Last updated: 9 January 2025
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