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
Engagement with gambling related content on social media and streaming platforms
Almost 1 in 6 (17 percent) young people highlighted that they followed gambling companies (including those who provide betting, bingo and lottery activities and gamblers who stream their gambling or provide content about it) through at least one social media and/or streaming platform.
The most frequently cited platforms were TikTok (cited by 10 percent of young people), YouTube (9 percent), Instagram (6 percent) and Snapchat (6 percent).
Figure 8.4: Engagement with gambling related content on social media and streaming platforms
Figure 8.4 information
GC_SOCIALMED. Do you follow any gambling related content on social media or streaming platforms? This includes all gambling companies (betting, bingo and lottery activities), and gamblers who stream their gambling or provide content about it.
Base: All participants answering 2024 (3,178).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
| Response | 2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Yes | 17% |
| Yes, on TikTok | 10% |
| Yes, on YouTube | 9% |
| Yes, on Instagram | 6% |
| Yes, on Snapchat | 6% |
| Yes, on Facebook | 4% |
| Yes, on Twitch | 4% |
| Yes, on Twitter | 3% |
| No | 72% |
| No, I do not follow any gambling on social media and/or streaming platforms | 67% |
| No, I do not use social media and/or streaming platforms | 5% |
| Do not know or cannot remember | 12% |
Boys were more likely than girls to follow gambling companies through at least one social media and/or streaming platform (21 percent, compared to 11 percent).
Those young people who had seen a family member gamble were more likely than those who had not to follow gambling companies on social media and/or streaming platforms (24 percent, compared to 13 percent).
There has been an increase between 2022 and 2024 in the proportion of young people who follow gambling companies on social media and/or streaming platforms (from 13 percent to 17 percent). This has been driven by increases on TikTok (increased from 7 percent to 10 percent) and Snapchat (increased from 4 percent to 6 percent).
Table 8.4: Engagement with gambling related content on social media and streaming platforms in 2022, 2023, and 2024
Table 8.4 information
GC_SOCIALMED. Do you follow any gambling companies on any of the following social media or streaming platforms?
Base: All participants answering 2022 (2,207), 2023 (2,650) 2024 (3,178).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
| Response | 2022 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2023 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | 13% | 15% | 17% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Yes, on TikTok | 7% | 9% | 10% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Yes, on YouTube | 9% | 10% | 9% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Yes, on Instagram | 6% | 7% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Yes, on Snapchat | 4% | 5% | 6% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Yes, on Facebook | 4% | 4% | 4% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Yes, on Twitch | 3% | 4% | 4% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| Yes, on Twitter | 3% | 4% | 3% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| No | 75% | 72% | 72% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| No, I do not follow any gambling on social media and/or streaming platforms | 71% | 68% | 67% | Significant decrease | No significant difference |
| No, I do not use social media and/or streaming platforms | 4% | 3% | 5% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Do not know or cannot remember | 12% | 13% | 12% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
Perceived impact of gambling adverts on unplanned spending
Last updated: 18 December 2024
Show updates to this content
Clarification added to figure 8.4 information.