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 active involvement in gambling
Within the past 12 months, just over a quarter (27 percent) of young people spent their own money on some form of gambling activity. They were most likely to have spent their own money on activities that are legal or do not feature age restricted products such as arcade gaming machines, for example penny pushers or claw grab machines (20 percent), followed by placing bets for money with friends or family (11 percent), and playing cards for money (5 percent).
Almost three quarters (73 percent) of young people had never gambled via any of the activities listed.
Figure 1.1: Top 10 gambling activities that young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months
Figure 1.1 information
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it …?
Base: All answering (3,869).
Note: multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Top 10 gambling activities young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months | Percentage (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Spent money on any gambling activity in last 12 months (from across all 17 listed activities) | 27% |
| Played arcade gaming machines | 20% |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 11% |
| Played cards for money | 5% |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 4% |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 2% |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app | 2% |
| Placed a bet at a betting shop or bookies | 1% |
| Placed a bet on esports | 1% |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 1% |
| National Lottery draw | 1% |
In terms of trends from previous years, the proportions of young people actively involved in gambling has remained consistent with the 2023 findings (26 percent in 2023 and 27 percent in 2024, which represents no statistically significant change). This follows a decrease that was observed between 2022 and 2023 in levels of active involvement in gambling (31 percent in 2022, compared with 26 percent in 2023 and 27 percent in 2024), though as noted previously, the 2022 sample did not include year 12 pupils or independent schools and so comparisons with this year are indicative. This drop was mainly driven by a decrease in the proportion of young people who had placed a bet for money between friends or family (15 percent in 2022, compared with 11 percent in both 2023 and 2024).
Table 1.1: Top 10 gambling activities young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 1.1 information
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it …?
Base: All answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
Note: multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Top 10 gambling activities young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spent money on any gambling activity in last 12 months | 31% | 26% | 27% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Played arcade gaming machines | 22% | 19% | 20% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 15% | 11% | 11% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Played cards for money | 5% | 5% | 5% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 4% | 4% | 4% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 2% | 1% | 2% | No significant differences | Significant increase |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app | 1% | 1% | 2% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Placed a bet at a betting shop or bookies | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Placed a bet on esports | 2% | 1% | 1% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| National Lottery draw | 1% | 1% | 1% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
Young people were more likely to have spent their own money in the past year on regulated forms of gambling, that is those gambling activities which are licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission, than on unregulated forms of gambling (21 percent, compared to 15 percent). However, excluding arcade gaming machines, which are legally accessible to young people, the proportion of young people who were actively involved in regulated gambling activities drops to 6 percent overall.
There has been a small but statistically significant increase since 2023 in the proportion of young people actively involved in regulated gambling excluding arcade gaming machines (6 percent in 2024, compared to 4 percent in 2023), though the trends are fairly stable over time (the figure was 5 percent in 2022). This was driven mainly by boys (4 percent in 2023, compared to 6 percent in 2024), young people who have seen family members gamble (8 percent in 2023, compared to 13 percent in 2024), and 14 to 17 year olds (4 percent in 2023, compared to 6 percent in 2024).
Table 1.2: Engagement in regulated and unregulated gambling activities, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 1.2 information
Base: All answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
| Engagement in regulated and unregulated gambling activities, in 2022, 2023 and 2024 | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regulated gambling | 23% | 19% | 21% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Regulated gambling without arcade machines | 5% | 4% | 6% | No significant differences | Significant increase |
| Unregulated gambling | 18% | 14% | 15% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
Definitions Next section
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition – Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) problem gambling screen
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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