Report

Young People and Gambling 2025: Official statistics

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2025.

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Published
13 November 2025

Last updated
13 November 2025 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2025: Official statistics

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• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headline statistics
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Key terms used in the report
  • Acknowledgements
• Wider experience of gambling
• • Summary
  • Wider experience and active involvement in gambling
  • Experience of different categories of gambling activities
  • Experience of different types of gambling activities
  • Who young people were with when they gambled
  • Being stopped from gambling for being too young
  • Gambling in the context of what young people do in their spare time
  • Gambling in the context of other risk taking behaviours
• Active involvement in gambling and experience of problem gambling
• • Summary
  • Definitions
  • Young people's active involvement in gambling
  • Reasons why young people gamble
  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition – Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) screen
• Trends in gambling behaviours: 2022 to 2025
• • Summary
  • Experience of gambling 2022 to 2025
  • Active involvement in gambling 2022 to 2025
  • Trends in the DSM-IV-MR-J screen
• Young people’s exposure to gambling
• • 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
  • The role of influencers in advertising gambling-related content
• The impact of gambling on young people
• • Summary
  • Experience of ever seeing a family member gambling
  • Impact of seeing a family member gamble
  • The impact of gambling on school attendance
  • The impact of gambling on relationships
• Gambling activities and gaming
• • Summary
  • Overall experience of playing games and gaming machines
  • Types of gaming machine played
  • Playing arcade machines in adults-only areas
  • Who young people were with in an adult-only area
  • Online gambling
  • National Lottery play
  • Gaming
• Perspectives on gambling: Awareness, attitudes and behaviours
• • Summary
  • Feeling informed about gambling
  • Speaking to someone about gambling problems
  • Reasons why young people do not gamble
  • Young people who consider themselves risk-takers
• Appendices
• • The DSM-IV-MR-J problem gambler screen
  • Research design
  • List of gambling activities and definitions

Summary

This section of the report covers young people’s active involvement in gambling, based on self-reported experiences of spending their own money on gambling activities in the past 12 months. It includes analysis of the demographic profile of those who reported gambling with their own money and explores why young people gamble.

This section also reports on the proportion of individuals who based on their behaviours and actions are identified as young people with gambling problems, according to the youth-adapted problem gambling screen (DSM-IV-MR-J).

Three in ten young people (30 percent) gambled using their own money in the 12 months preceding the survey, with higher rates among boys (34 percent) than girls (27 percent). Playing arcade gaming machines remained the most common gambling activity among 11 to 17 year olds (21 percent had spent their own money on this in the past year).

Overall, there was an increase in young people’s levels of active gambling since 2024, from 27 percent to 30 percent in 2025. The increase is notable in terms of the proportion participating in unregulated gambling (15 percent in 2024, to 18 percent in 2025).

The DSM-IV-MR-J classified 1.2 percent of young people as scoring 4 or more, 2.2 percent scored 2 or 3, and 27.0 percent scored 0 or 1. There was no significant change in the proportion of young people scoring 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J since 2024.

The primary motivating factor for young people to gamble is the perception of it as ‘fun’, mentioned by 78 percent who spent their own money gambling in the last 12 months.

Next section
Definitions

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Last updated: 13 November 2025

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