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
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- 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
Online gambling
Young people’s participation in online gambling
A total of 8 percent of young people reported spending their own money on online gambling in the past 12 months. This includes 3 percent who had placed a bet on a betting website or app and 3 percent who played an online game on a casino website. Fewer young people had played bingo online (2 percent), placed a bet on esports online (2 percent), while 1 percent had played National Lottery instant win games online.
Young people’s participation in online gambling was largely consistent by sub-group. However, those from white ethnic groups were more likely to gamble online, compared with young people from ethnic minority backgrounds (9 percent, compared with 6 percent).
The type of betting activities participated in online differed according to gender. Boys were more likely than girls to place a bet on esports (3 percent, compared with 1 percent), place a bet on betting website or app (4 percent, compared with 2 percent), and play online games on a casino website (4 percent, compared with 1 percent) than girls. However, girls were more likely to play bingo online than boys (3 percent, compared with 1 percent).
Online gambling using parent’s or guardian’s accounts
To understand the context in which young people experience online gambling, all young people were asked if they had ever used their parent’s or guardian’s accounts to gamble online, with or without their permission. Questions in this section were amended in 2025 to ensure that the questions are well understood by young people completing the survey. As such the findings are not comparable with previous datasets.
Overall, 7 percent of young people had used their parent’s or guardian’s accounts to play National Lottery games online without their permission, while 4 in 10 (39 percent) had their permission. Those that had seen family members gamble, were more likely to not seek permission from their parents or guardians to play the National Lottery draw or online win games (12 percent, compared with 2 percent).
A further 7 percent of young people had used their parent’s or guardian’s accounts to play on gambling websites or place bets online without their permission, while 3 in 10 (31 percent) had their permission. Boys were more likely than girls to play without their parents or guardian’s permission when using their accounts to play on gambling websites or place bets online (9 percent, compared with 2 percent).
Table 6.3: Online gambling using parent’s or guardian’s accounts
GC_PLAYONLINE1. I have used my parent’s and/or guardian’s account to play National Lottery games online.
Base: All participants (answering) who have played National Lottery games online 2025 (198).
GC_PLAYONLINE2. I have used my parents' and/or guardians' account to play on gambling websites or to place bets online.
Base: All participants (answering) who have played bingo online, esports, betting websites or casino games online 2025 (421).
| Used parent’s or guardian’s account to play National Lottery games online | 2025 (percentage) |
|---|---|
| With their permission | 39% |
| Without their permission | 7% |
| None of these are true about me | 57% |
| Used parent’s or guardian’s account to play on gambling websites or to place bets online | 2025 (percentage) |
| With their permission | 31% |
| Without their permission | 7% |
| None of these are true about me | 64% |
Who young people were with in an adult-only area Next section
National Lottery play
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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