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
Summary
This section of the report illustrates changes in gambling participation over time, including active involvement. It also examines changes in the proportion classified as young people with gambling problems, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition - Multiple Response Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) screen.
Due to questionnaire changes made during 2020 to 2021, the 2022 survey forms a benchmark against which subsequent waves of research are measured. As such the data in this section covers 4 Young People and Gambling Surveys carried out between 2022 and 2025. The data is shown for each survey and highlights long term changes between 2022 and 2025.
When comparing the datasets over time it is important to note changes to the sample from 2023 onwards, specifically the inclusion of Year 12 students which widened the survey to capture the attitudes and behaviours of 17 year olds for the first time. In the same year, the sample of schools approached to take part was also broadened to include independent schools.
The analysis of long-term trends between 2022 and 2025 suggests stability in the proportion of young people actively involved in gambling activities. The top 10 gambling activities that young people spend their own money on have remained consistent over time, with arcade gaming machines play the most common activity each year (20 percent in 2022, 21 percent in 2025).
Young people’s experience of ever gambling has also remained at the same level: 3 in 5 young people reported that they had gambled on at least one activity at any time point in 2022 (60 percent) and 2025 (59 percent). The long-term trend data also suggests that levels of gambling participation over the 12 month period are consistent, with half of young people in both 2022 (50 percent) and 2025 (49 percent) gambling in the last 12 months.
The proportion of young people scoring any category on the DSM-IV-MR-J screen has remained the same since 2022. Likewise, the proportion of young people who have never gambled has remained consistent (68.9 percent in 2022 and 69.6 percent in 2025). The proportion of young people categorised as a 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J scale increased between 2023 (0.7 percent) and 2024 (1.5 percent). However, the longer term trend shows no significant difference between 2022 and 2025 (0.9 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively).
Next sectionExperience of gambling 2022 to 2025
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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