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
Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
Young people who had ever experienced a National Lottery draw-based game (for example, Lotto, EuroMillions, or Set for Life) or National Lottery scratchcards were asked how the ticket or scratchcard was purchased on the most recent occasion they played. It is important to note that the number of young people who self-reported experiencing National Lottery draw-based games (117) is fairly small, so these figures should be interpreted with caution.
Among those who had experience of National Lottery scratchcards, 89 percent said someone else had purchased the scratchcard for them in a shop, whilst 7 percent noted that they had personally made the purchase (a further 3 percent indicated that it had not been purchased from a shop).
Around two-thirds of those who had experience of National Lottery draws noted that someone else had purchased the ticket for them in a shop (65 percent), compared to 20 percent who purchased it themselves (and a further 14 percent who said it was not purchased in a shop).
Figure 6.1: How National Lottery draw tickets and scratchcards were purchased
Figure 6.1 information
GC_HANDED. Thinking about the last time you played National Lottery draw which statement best describes how you purchased and paid for the item?
Base: All answering who have played National Lottery (117).
| How National Lottery draw game tickets were purchased | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Someone else purchased the ticket for me in a shop | 65% |
| I purchased the ticket by myself in a shop | 20% |
| The ticket was not purchased in a shop | 14% |
GC_HANDED. Thinking about the last time you played National Lottery scratchcard which statement best describes how you purchased and paid for the item?
Base: All answering who have played National Lottery scratchcards (300).
| How National Lottery scratchcards were purchased | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Someone else purchased the scratchcard for me in a shop | 89% |
| I purchased the scratchcard by myself in a shop | 7% |
| The scratchcard was not purchased in a shop | 3% |
When looking at findings across the last 2 years, the proportion of young people who cited someone else as having purchased a ticket or scratchcard for them was significantly lower in 2024 than in 2023 for both National Lottery draws (65 percent in 2024, compared to 83 percent in 2023) and National Lottery scratchcards (89 percent in 2024, compared to 96 percent in 2023). The proportion who purchased a National Lottery draw ticket themselves in a shop was higher in 2024 than in 2023 (20 percent in 2024, compared to 8 percent in 2023). The answer options to this question were different in 2022 so do not allow for direct comparisons.
Table 6.2: How National Lottery draw tickets and scratchcards were purchased; 2023 and 2024
Table 6.2 information
GC_HANDED. Thinking about the last time you played National Lottery draw or scratchcard which statement best describes how you purchased and paid for the item?
Base: All answering who have played National Lottery 2023 (116), 2024 (117). All answering who have played National Lottery scratchcards 2023 (260), 2024 (300).
| How the National Lottery draw ticket was purchased | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone else purchased the ticket for me in a shop | 83% | 65% | Significant decrease |
| I purchased the ticket by myself in a shop | 8% | 20% | Significant increase |
| It was not purchased in a shop | 9% | 14% | No significant difference |
| How the National Lottery scratchcard was purchased | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
| Someone else purchased the scratchcard for me in a shop | 96% | 89% | Significant decrease |
| I purchased the scratchcard by myself in a shop | 3% | 7% | No significant difference |
| It was not purchased in a shop | 1% | 3% | No significant difference |
Wider experience of lotteries and lottery style games Next section
Who young people were with when playing lotteries and lottery style games
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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