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

Feeling informed about gambling

Young people were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 2 statements to understand the extent to which they feel informed about the risks of gambling and to explore whether anyone has ever spoken to them about the potential problems gambling to lead to.

Most young people (83 percent) agreed that they felt well informed about the risks of gambling, with half (51 percent) strongly agreeing with the statement.

Older young people, aged 15 (87 percent) and 16 (91 percent) were more likely to feel informed than young people overall (83 percent). There was also a difference regionally, as young people in Scotland were more likely than those in England and Wales to agree that they felt well informed about the risks of gambling (87 percent, compared with 83 percent in England and 80 percent in Wales).

Table 7.1: Feeling informed about the risks of gambling within past 12 months

GC_ATTINF. Thinking about gambling for money, how strongly do you agree or disagree with the statement below?
Base: All participants (answering) “I feel well informed about the risks of gambling” 2025 (3,552).

Table 7.1: Feeling informed about the risks of gambling within past 12 months

I feel well informed about the risks of gambling	2025 (percentage)
Strongly agree	51%
Agree	32%
Neither agree nor disagree	5%
Disagree	3%
Strongly disagree	1%
Do not know	8%

Previous section
Summary Next section
Speaking to someone about gambling problems

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Last updated: 13 November 2025

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