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 examines young people's attitudes towards gambling, exploring whether they feel informed about gambling, and the risks associated with gambling, self-identification as risk-takers, and the reasons some choose not to engage in gambling.

Most young people (83 percent) feel well-informed about the risks associated with gambling and the majority (68 percent) report that the potential problems of gambling have been discussed with them.

The 2 most common reasons why young people do not gamble are a lack of interest, mentioned by 40 percent and because it is illegal for someone of their age, mentioned by 36 percent.

For the first time, the survey explored attitudes towards risk-taking among young people. Three in ten (31 percent) consider themselves risk-takers, with boys and older teens aged 14 to 17 years old more likely to identify with this description. Notably, 40 percent of those spending their own money on gambling see themselves as risk-takers, significantly higher than the overall average. Interestingly, young people are less inclined to state they enjoy the thrill of risk-taking (29 percent).

Next section
Feeling informed about gambling

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Last updated: 13 November 2025

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