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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


Wider experience of lotteries and lottery style games

Taking into account all experiences over the past 12 months, just under 1 in 10 (9 percent) of young people had experience of some form of lottery or lottery style game. The most common was National Lottery scratchcards (played by 7 percent), followed by National Lottery draw games (3 percent), and National Lottery online instant win games (1 percent).

Boys were more likely than girls to have had experience of lotteries and lottery style games in the past 12 months (10 percent compared with 7 percent). Young people who had seen family members gamble (16 percent) and those from white ethnic groups (10 percent) were also comparatively more likely to have had experience in the last 12 months.

When looking across the last 3 years, the proportion of young people who had experienced lotteries and lottery style games was higher in 2024 (9 percent) than in 2023 (7 percent).

Table 6.1: Overall experience of lotteries and lottery style games

Table 6.1 information

GAMSPENDWHEN: When did you last do [this activity or these activities]?
Base: All answering in 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).

Table 6.1: Overall experience of lotteries and lottery style games
Lotteries and lottery style games 2022 (percentage) 2023 (percentage) 2024 (percentage) Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023
Any lottery or lottery style game 10% 7% 9% No significant difference Significant increase
National Lottery scratchcards (not free scratchcards) 8% 6% 7% No significant difference No significant difference
National Lottery draw 3% 2% 3% Significant increase No significant difference
National Lottery online instant win games 1% 1% 1% No significant difference No significant difference
Other Lotteries (for example The Health Lottery, People's Postcode Lottery, or other smaller lotteries) 1% Less than 0.5% 1% No significant difference Significant increase

In this context, ‘experience’ of lotteries and lottery style games could entail spending their own money to play National Lottery games, or it could mean being involved without spending their own money, which might potentially include picking lottery numbers or scratching off the numbers on someone else’s ticket or card.

Previous section
Active involvement with lotteries and lottery style games
Next section
Buying a National Lottery draw ticket or scratchcard
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