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 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition – Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) problem gambling screen
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition - Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) screen consists of 9 items which assess whether respondents who gamble are defined as experiencing problems with their gambling.
The 9 DSM-IV-MR-J items are:
- thinking about gambling or planning to gamble
- gambling to help you escape from problems or when you are feeling bad
- feeling bad or fed up when trying to cut down on gambling
- needing to gamble with more and more money to get the amount of excitement you want
- spending much more than you planned to on gambling
- taking money from any of the following without permission to spend on gambling: dinner money or fare money, money from family, money from things you’ve sold, money from outside the family, money from somewhere else
- gambling ever leading to arguments with family and/or friends or others, or missing school
- gambling ever leading to telling lies to family and/or friends or others
- after losing money by gambling, returning another day to try to win back the money you lost.
The DSM-IV-MR-J is asked of all young people who have spent their own money on at least one gambling activity in the past 12 months. Answer options were ‘never’, ‘once or twice’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’. Responses to the 9 questions are summed and a score ranging between 0 and 9 is computed. Scores are grouped into the following categories:
DSM-IV-MR-J score 0 or 1:
Representing a young person who does not experience any 'problems' with their gambling.
DSM-IV-MR-J score 2 or 3:
Representing a young person who is 'at-risk'.
DSM-IV-MR-J score 4 or more:
Representing a young person experiencing 'problems' with their gambling.
The youth-adapted screen (DSM-IV-MR-J) is not comparable to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) used for adult screen.
Within the survey analysis, young people were classified as having different gambling risk profiles using categories based on the DSM-IV-MR-J problem gambling screen, developed by Fisher (2000) (opens in new tab). This screen is specifically adapted for youth, incorporating adolescent-specific behaviours such as using dinner money for gambling or experiencing conflicts with peers. It is important to note that this youth-adapted screen is not directly comparable to adult problem gambling screens, which assess impacts on household finances among other factors. Information on how the screen is applied for the purpose of this survey can be found in the appendices.
A total of 1.5 percent of young people scored 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J, 1.9 percent scored 2 or 3, and 23.2 percent scored 0 or 1. Nearly three quarters of young people (72.7 percent) are not actively involved in gambling. Decimal places were used in the analysis to provide a more granular breakdown across categories.
Figure 1.2: DSM-IV-MR-J Youth Adapted problem gambling screen
Figure 1.2 information
Chart shows types of young people’s gambling risk profile as defined by the DSM-IV-MR-J youth-adapted problem gambling screen.
Base: All answering (3,869).
| DSM-IV-MR-J Youth Adapted problem gambling screen | 2024 (percentage) |
|---|---|
| Never have gambled | 72.7% |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 0 or 1 | 23.2% |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 2 or 3 | 1.9% |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 4 or more | 1.5% |
| Prefer not to say | 0.7% |
Young people aged 14 to 17 years were slightly more likely to score 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J than 11 to 13 year olds, (1.9 percent of 14 to 17 year olds, compared to 0.8 percent of 11 to 13 year olds). Boys were more likely than girls to score 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J (1.7 percent, compared to 0.6 percent). Young people in Scotland were comparatively more likely to score 4 or more in the DSM-IV-MR-J (3.0 percent, compared to 1.5 average across all nations), as were those who have seen members of their family gamble (2.6 percent, compared to 0.7 percent of those who have not been exposed to gambling within their family).
The proportion of young people overall scoring 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J has risen from 0.7 percent in 2023 to 1.5 percent in 2024. This is driven mainly by 5 of the 9 DSM-IV-MR-J items:
- the proportion of young people who often found themselves thinking about gambling or planning to gamble has increased from 3 percent in 2023 to 7 percent in 2024
- the proportion of young people who often needed to gamble with more and more money to get the amount of excitement they want has increased from 2 percent in 2023 to 4 percent in 2024
- the proportion of young people who have ever taken money without permission to spend on gambling has increased from 6 percent in 2023 to 11 percent in 2024
- the proportion of young people who have often lied to family and/or friends or others because of gambling has increased from 1 percent in 2023 to 3 percent in 2024
- the proportion of young people who, after losing money by gambling, have every time returned another day to try to win back the money they lost has increased from 2 percent in 2023 to 4 percent in 2024.
Table 1.3: DSM-IV-MR-J Youth Adapted problem gambling screen, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 1.3 information
Types of young people’s gambling risk profile as defined by the DSM-IV-MR-J youth-adapted problem gambling screen.
Base: All answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
| Gambling risk profile | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 0 or 1 | 27.3% | 23.0% | 23.2% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 2 or 3 | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1.9% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 4 or more | 0.9% | 0.7% | 1.5% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Never have gambled | 68.9% | 74.0% | 72.7% | Significant increase | No significant differences |
| Prefer not to say | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.7% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
Young people's active involvement in gambling
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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