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
Who young people were with when playing lotteries and lottery style games
Young people who had experienced any lotteries and lottery style games within the past year were asked who they were with when they last played them.
Those who had played National Lottery scratchcards were most likely to have been with a parent, carer or guardian (79 percent) when they last played. Girls were more likely than boys (85 percent, compared with 77 percent) and young people from white ethnic groups were more likely than those from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds (82 percent, compared with 68 percent) to have been with a parent or guardian. Around 1 in 20 young people were alone when playing National Lottery scratchcards (6 percent).
Young people who had experienced National Lottery draws were most likely to have been with a parent, carer or guardian (65 percent), whilst 14 percent were alone when they last played. The proportion of young people playing National Lottery instant win games is too small to allow robust analysis (base of 65), but the findings indicate that most were with someone at the time.
Figure 6.2: Who young people were with when playing lotteries and lottery style games
Figure 6.2 information
GC_GAMSPEND2. Last time you did [this activity or these activities] who were you with?
Base: All answering who have played National Lottery scratchcards (403), National Lottery draw (162, National Lottery Instant win games (65)
Note: This chart shows responses to 3 separate questions, so the total will not add up to 100 percent.
| Who young people were with when playing National Lottery games | National Lottery scratchcards (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
National Lottery draw (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
National Lottery instant win games (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent(s), carer(s) or guardian(s) | 79% | 65% | 25% |
| Brother(s), or sister(s) aged 17 or younger | 10% | 8% | 9% |
| Brother(s), or sister(s) aged 18 or older | 7% | 5% | 8% |
| Friend(s) aged 17 or younger | 3% | 5% | 7% |
| Friend(s) aged 18 or older | 2% | 2% | 7% |
| Others | 3% | 2% | 3% |
| I was alone | 6% | 14% | 31% |
Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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