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

Recall of gambling advertising or promotions

Four in five young people (79 percent) have at some point seen or heard adverts or promotion about gambling through either an online or offline source.

Almost three quarters cited an offline source (77 percent), with TV being the most common (64 percent), followed by sport events, including branding on players’ shirts and around pitches (47 percent) and posters and/or billboards (45 percent). Two in five heard adverts or promotion about gambling on the radio or seen them in newspapers or magazines (39 percent in both instances).

A similar proportion overall (74 percent) cited an online source, with apps (63 percent), social media (56 percent) and live streaming or video sharing platforms (42 percent) being the most frequently mentioned. One in five (18 percent) recall hearing gambling adverts during a podcast.

Figure 4.1: Recall of sources of gambling adverts or promotion within the past 12 months

Figure 4.1 information

GC_ADAWARE. Have you seen or heard adverts or promotion about gambling in any of the following places?
Base: All answering 2025: TV (3,526), Radio (3,520), Podcast (3,520), Sports event (3,519), Newspapers or magazines (3,519), Posters and/or billboards (3,520), On an app (3,522), Social media (3,523), Live streaming or video-sharing platforms (3,519), Other websites (3,508).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
Note: In 2025 the response code ‘Somewhere else’ was removed. In order to provide comparable data year-on-year the 2024 data has been rebased to exclude this response code.

Recall of sources of gambling adverts or promotion within the past 12 months

Exposure to gambling advertising or promotions	2025 (percentage) (this is a multiple response question; therefore, answers will not add up to 100 percent)
Gambling adverts offline	77%
Gambling advert online	74%
On TV	64%
On an app	63%
On social media	56%
At a sports event	47%
On posters or billboards	45%
On live streaming or video sharing platforms	42%
On the radio	39%
In newspapers or magazines	39%
On another website	37%
On a podcast	18%

The analysis reveals notable differences between boys and girls in exposure to gambling-related adverts or promotions, with boys significantly more likely than girls to encounter these across various platforms, notably:

• live streaming or video sharing platforms: 53 percent of boys reported exposure, compared with 31 percent of girls
• at sports events: 57 percent of boys, compared with 37 percent of girls.

Young people who considered themselves to be risk-takers and those who have seen a family member gamble were more likely to recall seeing or hearing gambling-related adverts or promotions across all listed sources.

There has been no overall change since 2024 in the proportion of young people who recall seeing or hearing adverts or promotion about gambling either offline or online, as shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Recall of sources of gambling adverts or promotion 2024 to 2025

GC_ADAWARE. Have you seen or heard adverts or promotion about gambling in any of the following places?
Base: All answering 2024: TV (3,253), Radio (3,245), Podcast (3,240), Sports event (3,250), Newspapers or magazines (3,240), Posters and/or billboards (3,239), On an app (3,247), Social media (3,249), Live streaming or video-sharing platforms (3,241), Other websites (3,241).
Base: All answering 2025: TV (3,526), Radio (3,520), Podcast (3,520), Sports event (3,519), Newspapers or magazines (3,519), Posters and/or billboards (3,520), On an app (3,522), Social media (3,523), Live streaming or video-sharing platforms (3,519), Other websites (3,508).
Note: This is a multiple response question, so the responses shown will not add up to 100 percent.
Note: In 2025 the response code ‘Somewhere else’ was removed. In order to provide comparable data year-on-year the 2024 data has been rebased to exclude this response code.

Table 4.1: Recall of sources of gambling adverts or promotion 2024 to 2025

Exposure to gambling adverts	2024 (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent)	2025 (percentage) (multiple response question, answers do not sum to 100 percent)	Statistical difference 2025 compared with 2024
On TV	64%	64%	No significant difference
On an app	62%	63%	No significant difference
On social media	58%	56%	No significant difference
At a sports event	48%	47%	No significant difference
On posters or billboards	45%	45%	No significant difference
On live streaming or video sharing platforms	43%	42%	No significant difference
On the radio	39%	39%	No significant difference
In newspapers or magazines	41%	39%	No significant difference
On another website	38%	37%	No significant difference
On a podcast	21%	18%	Significant decrease
Gambling adverts offline	76%	77%	No significant difference
Gambling adverts online	74%	74%	No significant difference

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Frequency of seeing or hearing gambling adverts or promotions

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Last updated: 13 November 2025

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