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
Wider experience and active involvement in gambling
In total, just over half (52 percent) of all 11 to 17 year olds had some experience of gambling, with 44 percent having experienced some form of gambling activity in the last 12 months. This experience of gambling does not necessarily entail spending their own money. The overall proportion of young people who were actively involved with gambling (such as spent their own money on it) within the last 12 months was 27 percent, decreasing to 14 percent within the last 4 weeks, and to 6 percent within the last 7 days.
Experience of gambling within the last 12 months was more prevalent among young people from white ethnic groups than those from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds (49 percent, compared to 33 percent). Those who had seen their family members gamble were also more likely to have experienced gambling in the last 12 months compared with those who had not had such exposure (60 percent, compared to 40 percent).
Figure 3.1: Wider experience and active involvement in gambling
Figure 3.1 information
Base: All answering (3,869).
Note: The chart shows results for different questions asked in the survey, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
| Wider experience and active involvement in gambling | Percentage (answers do not sum to 100 percent as chart shows more than one question) |
|---|---|
| Ever gambled | 52% |
| Gambled in last 12 months | 44% |
| Spent money on gambling in last 12 months | 27% |
| Spent money on gambling in last 4 weeks | 14% |
| Spent money on gambling in last 7 days | 6% |
There has been an increase from 2023 to 2024 in the total number of young people having experienced gambling (48 percent in 2023, compared to 52 percent in 2024) and in those experiencing gambling in the last 12 months (40 percent in 2023, compared to 44 percent in 2024). However, the proportions who have experienced gambling remain lower than those recorded in 2022.
The levels of active involvement in gambling within the last 12 months, 4 weeks and 7 days have not shown any statistical variation from 2023 (though like overall experience, are lower than in 2022).
Table 3.1: Experience of gambling activities in the last 12 months, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 3.1 information
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869).
Note: The chart shows results for different questions asked in the survey, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
| Experiences of gambling | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ever gambled | 60% | 48% | 52% | Significant decrease | Significant increase |
| Gambled in last 12 months | 50% | 40% | 44% | Significant decrease | Significant increase |
| Spent money on gambling in last 12 months | 31% | 26% | 27% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Spent money on gambling in last 4 weeks | 18% | 13% | 14% | Significant decrease | No significant differences |
| Spent money on gambling last 7 days | 7% | 5% | 6% | No significant differences | No significant differences |
Summary Next section
Experience of different gambling activities
Last updated: 7 November 2024
Show updates to this content
No changes to show.