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.

---

Published
7 November 2024

Last updated
7 November 2024 - Changes

Document actions
Print or save (opens in new tab)

Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics

---

• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headline statistics
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Acknowledgements
• 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
• • Applying the DSM-IV-MR-J youth adapted problem gambling screen
  • Research design
  • Sample profile
• List of gambling activities and definitions
• • List of gambling activities
  • Definitions

Summary

This section focuses on young people’s active involvement and experiences with lotteries and lottery style games. When interpreting findings within this section, it should be noted that legislation changed in 2021 to increase the minimum age that people can purchase National Lottery products (opens in new tab) from 16 to 18 years old, and so the majority of respondents to this survey are below this minimum age.

Definitions

Experience of lotteries and lottery style games

Lotteries and lottery style games includes National Lottery Draws, National Lottery scratchcards, National Lottery Instant win games and other lotteries such as The Health Lottery and the People’s Postcode Lottery. Experience of these includes both spending their own money to play lotteries and lottery style games, as well as experiencing without spending their own money, which might potentially include picking lottery numbers for others or scratching off the numbers on someone else’s ticket or card.

Overall, just under 1 in 10 (9 percent) young people had experience of some form of lottery or lottery style game in the past 12 months. In this context, ‘experience’ could mean getting involved with picking lottery numbers or scratching off the numbers on someone else’s ticket or card. However, only 2 percent of young people had spent their own money on lotteries and lottery style games within this time, with just 1 percent having spent their own money on a National Lottery scratchcard or draw.

It is important to note that most young people were in the company of their parent, carer, or guardian when purchasing a National Lottery scratchcard or draw, and in most cases, they did not make the purchase themselves.

Next section
Active involvement with lotteries and lottery style games

---

Last updated: 7 November 2024

Show updates to this content

No changes to show.