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
- 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
- Games and gaming machines
- Online gambling
- Lotteries and lottery style games
- Attitudes towards gambling and reasons for gambling
- Recall of gambling adverts and promotion
- Appendices
- List of gambling activities and definitions
Methods of paying for in-game items and to open loot boxes
Young people who said they had paid for in-game items or 'mods' (for example skins, clothes, weapons, or players) or to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items were asked how they had paid for these items. When paying for in-game items or ‘mods’ young people know what they are buying, unlike when they are paying for a loot box which has an unknown prize inside it.
Paying for in-game items or ‘mods’
Of those young people who had paid for in-game items or mods, over half did so using gift cards (57 percent), virtual currency bought with money (56 percent) or money from their own bank account (52 percent). Just under half had used virtual currency obtained without spending any money (49 percent), while just over a third had used money from someone else’s bank account (36 percent).
Figure 5.3: How young people paid for in-game items or mods
Figure 5.3 information
GC_PAY. You said that you have paid for in-game items or to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items. How did you pay for these items?
Base: All participants (answering) who have paid for In-game items or 'mods' (for example skins, clothes, weapons, players) (1,736).
| How young people paid for in-game items or mods | 2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Gift card | 57% |
| Virtual currency bought with money | 56% |
| Using money from my own bank account | 52% |
| Virtual currency obtained without spending any money (for example coins or tokens earned in the game) | 49% |
| Using money from someone else's bank account | 36% |
| Do not know | 3% |
Boys were more likely than girls to have paid for in-game items or mods through a range of different payment methods, which may reflect greater frequency of experience. They were more likely than girls to have paid with a gift card (64 percent, compared to 45 percent), by using money from their own bank account (57 percent, compared to 43 percent) and with virtual currency obtained without spending any money (55 percent, compared to 37 percent).
Young people aged 11 to 13 were more likely than those aged 14 to 17 to have paid for in-game items or mods with gift cards (62 percent compared to 54 percent). In contrast, those aged 14 to 17 were comparatively more likely to have paid with money from their own bank account (56 percent compared to 45 percent of 11 to 13 year olds), which is in line with this age group having more access to their own money through part time jobs.
Young people from white ethnic groups were more likely than those from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds to have paid for in-game items or mods with money from their own bank account (55 percent compared to 43 percent).
Paying to open loot boxes, packs and chests
Half or more of young people who had paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items had done so with virtual currency obtained without spending any money (58 percent), virtual currency bought with money (54 percent), money from their own bank account (51 percent), or a gift card (50 percent). Just over a third (36 percent) had used money from someone else’s bank account.
Figure 5.4: How young people paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items
Figure 5.4 information
GC_PAY. You said that you have paid for in-game items or to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items. How did you pay for these items?
Base: All participants (answering) who have paid for loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items (1,004).
| How young people paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items | Percentage (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Virtual currency obtained without spending any money (for example coins or tokens earned in the game) | 58% |
| Virtual currency bought with money | 54% |
| Using money from my own bank account | 51% |
| Gift card | 50% |
| Using money from someone else's bank account | 36% |
| Other | 1% |
| Do not know | 4% |
As with paying for in-game items or mods, boys were again more likely than girls to have paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests through a range of different payment methods, which again may reflect greater frequency of experience. Boys were more likely than girls to have paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests to get in-game items with virtual currency bought with money (60 percent, compared to 40 percent), a gift card (54 percent, compared to 37 percent) and money from their own bank account (53 percent, compared to 44 percent).
As was the case regarding payment for in-game items or mods, young people aged 11 to 13 were comparatively more likely to have paid to open loot boxes, packs or chests with gift cards (57 percent, compared to 46 percent of 14 to 17 year olds), whereas those aged 14 to 17 were comparatively more likely to have paid with money from their own bank account (54 percent, compared to 45 percent of 11 to 13 year olds).
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Last updated: 7 November 2024
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