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
Trends in the DSM-IV-MR-J screen
This section reports on long-term trends in the proportion of individuals who based on their behaviours and actions are identified 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.
Overall, young people’s DSM-IV-MR-J scores have remained broadly at the same level over time, alongside the consistent proportion of young people who have never gambled (68.9 percent in 2022 and 69.6 percent in 2025).
Looking at each category of the DSM-IV-MR-J scores in detail reveals some fluctuations over the short term but indicates no substantial long-term trends from 2022 to 2025. There was a decrease in the proportion categorised as score 0 or 1 on the DSM-IV-MR-J screen between 2022 (27.3 percent) and 2023 (23.0 percent), but the longer term trends show no significant difference (27.0 percent in 2025). A similar fluctuation was observed between 2022 and 2023 in the proportion of young people categorised as score 2 or 3 on the DSM-IV-MR-J scale between 2022 (2.4 percent in 2022, and 1.5 percent 2023), but the longer term trends once again show no significant difference.
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).
Table 3.3: DSM-IV-MR-J Youth Adapted problem screen, in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
Types of young people’s gambling risk profile as defined by the DSM-IV-MR-J youth-adapted problem screen.
Base: All answering 2022 (2,559), 2023 (3,453), 2024 (3,869), 2025 (3,666).
| Gambling risk categories | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | 2025 (percentage) | Statistical difference 2025 compared with 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 0 or 1 | 27.3% | 23.0% | 23.2% | 27.0% | No significant difference |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 2 or 3 | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1.9% | 2.2% | No significant difference |
| DSM-IV-MR-J score 4 or more | 0.9% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 1.2% | No significant difference |
| Never have gambled | 68.9% | 74.2% | 72.7% | 69.6% | No significant difference |
| Prefer not to say | 0.5% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.1% | No significant difference |
Active involvement in gambling 2022 to 2025
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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