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
The DSM-IV-MR-J problem gambler screen
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition - Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) screen is applied to assess whether respondents who gamble are defined as experiencing ‘problems’ with their gambling. In the adolescent gambling field, this is one of the most widely used instruments to assess experience of ‘problem’ gambling among this age group. For more information see: Fisher, S (2000). Developing the DSM-IV Criteria to Identify Adolescent Problem Gambling in Non-Clinical Populations, Journal of Gambling Studies Volume 16 No. 2/3.
A two-step eligibility criteria were used in applying the DSM-IV-MR-J screen. Firstly, respondents had to indicate that they had spent their own money on at least one gambling activity on at least one occasion in the last 12 months to answer all of 9 components of the problem gambling screener. A full list of gambling activities can be found in Table A.1. Secondly, young people who answered ‘prefer not to say’ throughout the gambling screen were excluded.
In total, 1,144 individuals qualified for the DSM-IV-MR-J screen.
Points were then allocated to each respondent based on the answers they gave to the 9 components (or questions) which are used to define typologies of young people who gamble, as set out in Table A.1.
The screen questions use frequency scales of ‘Never’, ‘Once or twice’, ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Often’. Each respondent was allocated a point for each of the 9 criteria that they met. Scores are grouped into the following categories:
DSM-IV-MR-J score 0 or 1: Representing a young person who does not experience any ‘problems’ with their gambling.
DSM-IV-MR-J score 2 or 3: Representing a young person who is ‘at-risk’.
DSM-IV-MR-J score 4 or more: Representing a young person experiencing ‘problems’ with their gambling.
Table A.1 indicates how the questions asked in 2025 mapped onto the DSM-IV-MR-J screen components and the percentage of young people who gave the required answers to each question when the scoring system was applied to the data.
Table A.1: Gambling criteria from the DSM-IV-MR-J screen
| 2025 question name | DSM-IV criteria | Question wording: ‘In the past 12 months…’ | If any of the following answer criteria are ticked, that qualifies as 1 point | Young people scoring | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percentage | Number of participants | ||||
| GC_PREOCC | Pre-occupation | How often have you found yourself thinking about gambling or planning to gamble | ‘Often’ | 2% | (66) |
| GC_ESCAPE | Escape | How often have you gambled to help you escape from problems or when you are feeling bad | ‘Sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 2% | (67) |
| GC_WITHD | Withdrawal | Have you felt bad or fed up when trying to cut down on gambling | ‘Sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 1% | (32) |
| GC_TOLERNCE | Tolerance | Have you needed to gamble with more and more money to get the amount of excitement you want | ‘Sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 2% | (64) |
| GC_LOSSCON | Loss of control | Have you ever spent much more than you planned to on gambling | ‘Sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 2% | (66) |
| GC_ILLEGAL | Taken money | Have you ever taken money from any of the following without permission to spend on gambling: dinner money or fare money, money from family, money from things you’ve sold, money from outside the family, somewhere else | If any one or more of these options are ticked, then qualifies for one point in total | 2% | (81) |
| GC_LEDRISKEDFAM and GC_LEDRISKEDSCHL | Risked relationships | Has your gambling ever led to the following: a) arguments with family or friends or others, b) missing school |
If any of the following are ticked, then qualifies for one point in total: ‘once or twice’, ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 2% 1% |
(68) (23) |
| GC_LEDLYING | Lying | Has your gambling ever led to telling lies to family or friends or others | ‘Once or twice’ ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ | 2% | (56) |
| GC_CHASING | Chasing | After losing money by gambling, have you returned another day to try to win back the money you lost | ‘More than half the time’ or ‘every time’ | 1% | (46) |
All percentages shown are based on the full sample of 3,666 11 to 17 year olds. Percentages and numbers shown in the table above are based on weighted data.
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Last updated: 13 November 2025
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