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 explores young people’s wider experience of gambling, covering the types of gambling activities they have engaged in, regardless of whether they were spending their own money, who they were with when they were gambling, as well as how gambling activities compare in relation to other high-risk activities that young people engage in.

Where possible, findings are compared with the 2024 survey to identify changes over time.

Definitions

Experience of gambling

Young people were asked whether they have engaged in any of 17 different gambling activities which, for analysis purposes, are grouped within the following 5 categories:

Lotteries or lottery style games

Includes:

• National Lottery draws (for example Lotto, EuroMillions or Set for Life) either with a physical ticket or playing online
• National Lottery Scratchcards (not free Scratchcards)
• National Lottery online instant win games
• other lotteries (for example The Health Lottery, People’s Postcode Lottery, or other smaller lotteries).

Games and gaming machines

Includes:

• arcade gaming machines (for example penny pusher or claw grab machine)
• fruit or slot machines (for example at an arcade, pub or social club)
• gambling machines in a betting shop
• cards for money (for example with friends or family).

Bingo

Includes:

• bingo at a bingo club
• bingo at somewhere other than a bingo club (for example social club or holiday park)
• bingo online (for example Foxy Bingo, Gala Bingo or Tombola).

Placing a bet

Includes activities such as:

• placing a bet for money between friends or family
• placing a bet on eSports (electronic sports such as playing video games competitively) online
• placing a bet at a betting shop or bookies (for example on football or horse racing)
• placing a bet on a betting website and/or app (for example on football or horse racing).

Casino games

Includes:

• playing a game inside a casino
• playing an online game on a casino website (for example online poker or online roulette for money).

In 2025 the wording used to describe casino games was updated to clarify the difference between casino play in ‘real life’ as opposed to online on a casino website.

In total, 3 in 5 (59 percent) 11 to 17 year olds had some experience of gambling, with half (49 percent) having experienced some form of gambling activity in the last 12 months.

Play on games and gaming machines was the most prevalent gambling activity. Among them, arcade gaming machines, such as penny pushers or claw grab machines, were the most frequently played, with 35 percent of young people having participated in such activities within the last year.

When engaging in gambling activities, most young people (75 percent) are with a parent, carer or guardian. Less than 1 in 10 (8 percent) are alone.

Of those who had ever experienced gambling, 13 percent reported having been stopped because they were too young.

The survey captures young people’s self-reported involvement in a range of activities that they like to do in their spare time; 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).

The survey also measured young people’s self-reported involvement in a range of other risk-taking behaviours; 34 percent of young people had drunk alcohol in the past 12 months, 13 percent had used an e-cigarette or vape, 5 percent smoked a tobacco cigarette, and 5 percent had taken illegal drugs (including cannabis).

Next section
Wider experience and active involvement in gambling

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Last updated: 13 November 2025

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