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.
Contents
- Executive summary
- 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
- Trends in gambling behaviours: 2022 to 2025
- Young people’s exposure to gambling
- The impact of gambling on young people
- Gambling activities and gaming
- Perspectives on gambling: Awareness, attitudes and behaviours
- Appendices
Young people's active involvement in gambling
Just over 3 in 5 (62 percent) young people had ever used their own money on some form of gambling. This is in line with the proportion that spent their own money on gambling in the 2024 study (61 percent).
Looking specifically at the last 12 months, 3 in 10 (30 percent) young people spent their own money on some form of gambling activity, an increase from 27 percent in 2024. This increase from 2024 might be explained by the only significant increase across the listed activities since 2024, which was placing a bet for money between friends or family (from 11 percent in 2024, to 14 percent in 2025).
Young people were most likely to have spent their own money on activities that are legal or do not feature age restricted products such as arcade gaming machines (21 percent), followed by placing bets for money with friends or family (14 percent), and playing cards for money (5 percent).
Figure 2.1: Top 10 gambling activities that young people spent their own money on in the last 12 months
Figure 2.1 information
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it…?
Base: All 11 to 17 year olds answering 2025 (3,666).
Note: this is a multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Top 10 gambling activities young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months | 2025 (percentage) (this is a multiple response question; therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| Spent money on any gambling activity in last 12 months | 30% |
| Played arcade gaming machines | 21% |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 14% |
| Played cards for money | 5% |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 4% |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 2% |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app | 1% |
| Placed a bet at a betting shop or bookies | 1% |
| Placed a bet on esports | 1% |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 1% |
| National Lottery draw | 1% |
Table 2.1: Top 10 gambling activities that young people spent their own money on in the last 12 months 2024 to 2025
GAMSPEND4. And when did you last spend money on [this activity or these activities]? Was it …?
Base: All answering 2024 (3,869), 2025 (3,666).
Note: multiple response question, therefore answers do not sum to 100 percent.
| Top 10 gambling activities young people spent their own money on within the past 12 months | 2024 (percentage) | 2025 (percentage) | Statistical difference 2025 compared with 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spent money on any gambling activity in last 12 months (from across all 17 listed activities) | 27% | 30% | Significant increase |
| Played arcade gaming machines | 20% | 21% | No significant difference |
| Placed a bet for money between friends or family | 11% | 14% | Significant increase |
| Played cards for money | 5% | 5% | No significant difference |
| Played fruit or slot machines | 4% | 4% | No significant difference |
| Played bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club | 2% | 2% | No significant difference |
| Placed a bet on a betting website and/or app | 2% | 1% | No significant difference |
| Placed a bet at a betting shop or bookies | 1% | 1% | No significant difference |
| Placed a bet on esports | 1% | 1% | No significant difference |
| National Lottery scratchcards | 1% | 1% | No significant difference |
| National Lottery draw | 1% | 1% | No significant difference |
Compared with 2024, there has been a slight increase in young people’s engagement with regulated gambling activities (from 21 percent in 2024, to 23 percent in 2025). However, the proportion of young people who play regulated gambling activities, excluding arcade machines, has remained at the same level (6 percent in both 2024 and 2025). Overall, the increase was most notable in terms of the proportion participating in unregulated gambling (15 percent in 2024, to 18 percent in 2025).
Table 2.2: Engagement in regulated and unregulated gambling activities 2024 to 2025
Base: all answering 2024 (3,869), 2025 (3,666).
| Engagement in regulated and unregulated gambling activities in 2024 and 2025 | 2024 (percentage) | 2025 (percentage) | Statistical difference 2025 compared with 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulated gambling | 21% | 23% | Significant increase |
| Regulated gambling without arcade machines | 6% | 6% | No significant differences |
| Unregulated gambling | 15% | 18% | Significant increase |
Young people who are actively involved in gambling: demographic profile
There was no significant difference by age in the proportion of young people who actively spent their own money (for example pocket money, birthday money or money they earned themselves) on gambling activities in the last 12 months. However, older age groups (14 to 17 year olds) were more likely to engage with unregulated gambling (19 percent) compared with 11 to 13 year olds (16 percent). This aligns with the higher proportion of 14 to 17 year olds who bet for money with friends or family (16 percent, compared with 12 percent of 11 to 13 year olds). Whilst younger age groups (11 to 15 years old) were more likely to play arcade gaming machines which are regulated (37 percent, compared with 26 percent of 16 to 17 year olds).
By gender, boys are more likely to have spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months than girls (34 percent, compared with 27 percent).
Those who define their ethnicity as white were more likely than young people from black or ethnic minority backgrounds to have spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months (35 percent, compared with 21 percent). This finding could be related to how active involvement in gambling was notably higher among young people who had seen their family members gamble, who in turn are more likely to come from a white ethnic background (33 percent of those from a white ethnic background compared with 19 percent of those from black or ethnic minority backgrounds have seen a family member they live with gamble).
Those young people who consider themselves to be a risk-taker are more likely to spend their own money on gambling than those who are not (39 percent, compared with 26 percent).
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Reasons why young people gamble
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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