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
Experience of different gambling activities
Young people were shown a list of gambling activities and asked if they had experienced any in the last 12 months. The activities have been grouped into categories for analysis purposes (see definitions at the beginning of the chapter). The category that young people were most likely to have experience of was playing games and gaming machines, with just over a third (34 percent) having done so within the past 12 months. This was followed by placing a bet (20 percent), playing bingo (12 percent), playing lotteries or lottery style games (9 percent), and playing casino games (4 percent).
Figure 3.2: Experience of gambling activities, by category, in the last 12 months
Figure 3.2 information
GC_GAMSPENDWHEN. When did you last do this activity? Was it...? Summary of gambling in last seven days or four weeks or 12 months.
Base: All answering (3,869).
Note: This is a multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Experience of gambling activities, by category, in the last 12 months | 2024 percentage (answers do not sum to 100 percent as chart shows more than one question) |
|---|---|
| Games and gaming machines | 34% |
| Placing a bet | 20% |
| Bingo | 12% |
| Lotteries or lottery style games | 9% |
| Casino games | 4% |
Boys were comparatively more likely than girls to have placed a bet (22 percent, compared to 17 percent) and to have played casino games (5 percent, compared to 2 percent). In contrast, girls were more likely than boys to have played bingo (13 percent, compared to 10 percent).
In terms of differences by age, 11 to 13 year olds were more likely than 14 to 17 year olds to have played games or gaming machines (37 percent, compared to 33 percent), while 14 to 17 year olds were more likely than 11 to 13 year olds to have placed a bet (21 percent, compared to 17 percent).
Young people from white ethnic groups were more likely than those from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds to have experience of all categories, except for casino games (where there is no statistically significant difference). Young people from white ethnic groups were more likely than those from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds to have played games and gaming machines (39 percent, compared to 26 percent), to have placed a bet (22 percent, compared to 15 percent), to have played bingo (14 percent, compared to 8 percent), and to have played lotteries or lottery style games (10 percent compared to 6 percent).
Each category of gambling had individual activities listed within it (see definitions at the beginning of the chapter). The most popular activity was arcade gaming machines (for example penny pushers or claw grab machines), with 30 percent of young people having experienced them within the past year. The next most frequently cited activities were placing a bet for money between friends or family (17 percent), playing bingo somewhere other than a bingo club (9 percent), playing cards for money (8 percent), playing fruit or slot machines (7 percent), and National Lottery scratchcards (7 percent).
Figure 3.3: Experience in gambling activities in the last 12 months, top 10 individual activities
Figure 3.3 information
GC_GAMSPEND. Have you ever done any of the following activities?
Base: All answering (3,869).
Note: This is a multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Experience in gambling activities in the last 12 months, top 10 individual activities | 2024 percentage (multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Played arcade gaming machines | 30% |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 17% |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 9% |
| Played cards for money | 8% |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 7% |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 7% |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app (for example on football or horse racing) | 3% |
| National Lottery draw (for example Lotto, EuroMillions or Set for Life, either with a physical ticket or playing online) | 3% |
| Played bingo at a bingo club | 3% |
| Played casino games online (for example online poker or online roulette for money) | 3% |
Young people who were more likely to have experienced arcade gaming machines included 11 to 13 year olds (34 percent), those from white ethnic groups (34 percent), and those who had previously seen family members gamble (42 percent).
The proportions of young people who had played arcade gaming machines and who had placed a bet for money between friends or family (the 2 most frequent gambling activities) did not change significantly between 2023 and 2024, and so remained lower than the levels previously recorded in 2022 (experience of arcade gaming machines decreasing from 35 percent in 2022 to 30 percent in 2024, and placing bets for money between friends and/or family decreasing from 21 percent in 2022 to 17 percent in 2024).
The proportion of young people who had experienced some of the regulated gambling activities has increased from 2023 to 2024. There were small but statistically significant increases in the proportions who had placed a bet on a betting website and/or app (2 percent in 2023, compared to 3 percent in 2024), played the National Lottery draw (2 percent in 2023, compared to 3 percent in 2024), played bingo at a bingo club (2 percent in 2023, compared to 3 percent in 2024), and played casino games online (1 percent in 2023, compared to 3 percent in 2024). The proportion of young people who had experienced bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club also increased, from 7 percent in 2023 to 9 percent in 2024.
Table 3.2: Experience of gambling activities in the last 12 months, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 3.2 information
GC_GAMSPENDWHEN. When did you last do this activity? Was it...?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869). Note: This is a multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Experience in gambling activities, top 5 individual activities in the last 12 months | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played arcade gaming machines | 35% | 30% | 30% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 21% | 15% | 17% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 8% | 7% | 9% | No significant differences | Significant increase |
| Played cards for money | 9% | 7% | 8% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 6% | 6% | 7% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 8% | 6% | 7% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app | 3% | 2% | 3% | No significant differences | Significant increase |
| National Lottery draw | 3% | 2% | 3% | No significant differences | Significant increase |
| Played bingo at a bingo club | 2% | 2% | 3% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Played casino games online | 2% | 1% | 3% | Significant increase | Significant increase |
Wider experience and active involvement in gambling Next section
Who young people were with when they experienced gambling activities
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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