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
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- 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
Setting gambling in the context of other risk taking behaviours
The survey also measures young people’s self-reported involvement in a range of other risk-taking behaviours which means trends in gambling activity can be compared with other risk-taking behaviours, such as smoking, drinking, and drug-taking.
Over the last 12 months, young people were more likely to have experienced some form of gambling activity (44 percent) than other risk-taking activities listed (though these were asked about in slightly different ways and so comparisons are to some extent indicative). Just over a third (37 percent) of young people had drunk alcohol and 27 percent had spent their own money on gambling. This is followed by 15 percent who cited using an e-cigarette or vape, 8 percent having smoked a tobacco cigarette, and 7 percent having taken illegal drugs (including cannabis).
Figure 3.6: Risk-taking behaviours in the past 12 months
Figure 3.6 information
GC_ACTIVITY. Please look at the list below and for each activity, select when, if ever, you have done this.
Base: All answering who have drunk alcoholic drink (3,152), used an e-cigarette and/or vape (3,163), smoked tobacco cigarette (3,198), taken illegal drugs (3,190).
GC_GAMSPENDWHEN. When did you last do this activity? Was it...? Summary of gambling in last 7 days or 4 weeks or 12 months.
Base: All answering (3,869).
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it …?
Base: All answering (3,869).
| Risk-taking behaviours in the past 12 months | 2024 (percentage) |
|---|---|
| Experience in gambling | 44% |
| Drunk an alcoholic drink | 37% |
| Active involvement in gambling | 27% |
| Used an e-cigarette and/or vape | 15% |
| Smoked a tobacco cigarette | 8% |
| Taken illegal drugs (including cannabis) | 7% |
Those young people who had seen family members gamble were more likely than those without such exposure to have engaged in all the listed risk-taking behaviours within the past 12 months. They were more likely to have drunk an alcoholic drink (53 percent, compared to 31 percent), used an e-cigarette and/or vape (21 percent, compared to 12 percent), smoked a tobacco cigarette (12 percent, compared to 6 percent), and taken illegal drugs (11 percent, compared to 5 percent).
There are higher levels of experience of some risk-taking behaviours among young people who have actively gambled. Over half (53 percent) of young people who gambled with their own money in the 12 months prior to the survey had also consumed an alcoholic drink during the same period. This compares to 37 percent of the total sample. Similarly, 21 percent of those who gambled with their own money in the same period had used e-cigarettes, compared to 15 percent of the total sample.
The likelihood of young people having experienced the most common risk-taking behaviours – gambling and drinking alcohol - has declined since 2022 (44 percent reported having experienced gambling in the 2024 survey, compared to 50 percent in 2022; whilst 37 percent in 2024 noted they had drunk alcohol, compared to 41 percent in 2022).
Table 3.4: Risk-taking behaviours in the past 12 months, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 3.4 information
GC_ACTIVITY. Please look at the list below and for each activity, select when, if ever, you have done this.
Base: All answering who have drunk alcoholic drink in 2024 (3,152), 2023 (2,622), 2022 (2,198), used an e-cigarette and/or vape in 2022 (2,202), 2023 (2,637), 2024 (3,163), smoked tobacco cigarette in 2022 (2,224), 2023 (2,665), 2024 (3,198), taken illegal drugs in 2022 (2,213), 2023 (2,662), 2024 (3,190).
GC_GAMSPENDWHEN. When did you last do this activity? Was it...? Summary of gambling in last 7 days or 4 weeks or 12 months.
Base: All answering in 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it …?
Base: All answering in 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
| Risk-taking behaviours in the past 12 months | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience in gambling | 50% | 40% | 44% | Significant decrease | Significant increase |
| Drunk an alcoholic drink | 41% | 42% | 37% | Significant decrease | Significant decrease |
| Active involvement in gambling | 31% | 26% | 27% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Used an e-cigarette and/or vape | 17% | 20% | 15% | No significant differences | Significant decrease |
| Smoked a tobacco cigarette | 7% | 9% | 8% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
| Taken illegal drugs (including cannabis) | 5% | 8% | 7% | Significant increase | No significant differences |
Being stopped from gambling for being too young
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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