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
Gambling in the context of what young people do in their spare time
The survey also explores young people’s self-reported involvement in various leisure activities, allowing for a comparison between trends in gambling activities and recreational pursuits. This question was updated in 2025, as such the findings are not comparable with previous years.
As shown in Table 1.6 the most popular activities were meeting up with friends (40 percent), taking part in sports (40 percent), playing games on a device (39 percent) and listening to music (39 percent).
Table 1.6: Things that young people like to do most in their spare time in the past 12 months 2025
GC_SPARE. In your spare time, what are the things that you like to do most?
Base: All answering 2025 (3,603).
| Things that young people like to do most in their spare time in the past 12 months in 2025 | 2025 (percentage) |
|---|---|
| Meeting up with friends | 40% |
| Taking part in sports (for example football, netball, swimming, gymnastics) and/or exercising (for example gym, workout classes, walking, hiking) | 40% |
| Playing games on my phone, iPad, laptop or on a console (for example, Play Station, Nintendo Switch) | 39% |
| Listening to music | 39% |
| Spending time with my family | 32% |
| Chatting on the phone with my friends and/or spending time online with friends on social media | 28% |
| Watching programmes on TV or through streaming services | 21% |
| Shopping | 16% |
| Cooking | 10% |
| Reading (books or magazines) | 10% |
| Going to the cinema, theatre or concerts | 5% |
There are notable differences by gender:
- girls are more likely to listen to music (46 percent) and meet up with friends (43 percent)
- boys are more likely to play games on a device (59 percent) and play sports (53 percent).
Being stopped from gambling for being too young Next section
Gambling in the context of other risk taking behaviours
Last updated: 13 November 2025
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