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
Young people who consider themselves risk-takers
In 2025, 2 new questions were introduced to explore young people’s attitudes to risk-taking in general. For each question young people were asked to consider the extent to which they agreed or disagreed that they were a risk-taker and whether they liked the feeling that comes with taking risks.
Three in ten (31 percent) young people agreed that they consider themselves to be a risk-taker, while a quarter disagreed (25 percent) and over a third (35 percent) are unsure either way.
Boys were more likely than girls to say they are a risk-taker (39 percent, compared with 22 percent). Those aged 14 to 17 years old were also more likely to say they were risk-takers than those aged 11 to 13 years old (35 percent, compared with 27 percent).
The survey findings indicate that 2 in 5 (40 percent) young people who spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months consider themselves a risk-taker, compared with 31 percent overall. Furthermore, young people who have scored either 2 to 3 or 4 or more on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition - Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) screen were more likely to agree that they consider themselves to be a risk-taker than young people overall (66 percent and 76 percent, respectively, compared with 31 percent, overall).
Young people are less likely to state that they enjoy the feeling that comes with taking risks. While 3 in 10 (29 percent) agreed with the statement ‘I like the feeling that comes with taking risks’, 34 percent disagreed. Over a quarter (27 percent) are unsure either way.
Boys were more likely to agree that they enjoyed the feeling of taking risks than girls (35 percent, compared with 21 percent). Young people aged 14 to 17 years old were more likely to agree that they enjoy the feeling of taking risks than those aged 11 to 13 years old (33 percent, compared with 23 percent).
The findings also show that young people who scored either 2 or 3 or 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J screen were more likely to agree they like the feeling that comes with taking risks than young people overall (63 percent, and 73 percent, compared with 29 percent, overall).
Figure 7.2: Those who consider themselves a risk-taker and like the feeling that comes with taking risks within the past 12 months
Figure 7.2 information
GC_RISK: How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements? ‘I consider myself a risk-taker.’ ‘I like the feeling that comes with taking risks.’
Base: All participants answering “I consider myself a risk-taker” 2025 (3,564), “I like the feeling that comes with taking risks” 2025 (3,564).
| Those who consider themselves a risk-taker and like the feeling that comes with taking risks within the past 12 months | 2025 (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| I consider myself a risk taker | I like the feeling that comes with taking risks | |
| Strongly agree | 11% | 11% |
| Agree | 20% | 18% |
| Neither agree or disagree | 35% | 27% |
| Disagree | 9% | 10% |
| Strongly disagree | 16% | 21% |
| Do not know | 8% | 13% |
Reasons why young people do not gamble
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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