Report

Young People and Gambling 2026: Official statistics

Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2026.

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Published
12 November 2026

Last updated
12 November 2026 - Changes

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Contents

• Young People and Gambling 2026: Official statistics

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• Executive summary
• • Introduction
  • Headlines
  • Survey strengths and limitations
  • Presentation and interpretation of data
  • Key terms used in the report
  • Acknowledgements
• Wider experience of gambling
• • Summary
  • Definitions
  • 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 experienced gambling
  • Being stopped from gambling for being too young
  • Gambling in the context of young people’s spare time activities
  • 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 youth adapted gambling screen
• Trends in gambling behaviours: 2022 to 2026
• • Summary
  • Experience of gambling
  • Active involvement in gambling
  • Trends in the youth adapted gambling 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
  • Impact on sleep
  • Impact on wellbeing
  • Impact on school attendance and relationships
• Gambling activities and gaming
• • Summary
  • Overall experience of playing games and gaming machines
  • Types of gaming machine played
  • Playing arcade machines in adult-only areas
  • Who young people were with in an adult-only area
  • Online gambling
  • Lottery play
  • Gaming
• Perspectives on gambling: Awareness, attitudes and behaviours
• • Summary
  • Feeling informed about gambling
  • Speaking to someone about gambling problems
  • Feeling informed about gambling: 2025 to 2026
  • Reasons why young people do not gamble
  • Young people who consider themselves risk-takers
• Appendices
• • Introduction
  • The DSM-IV-MR-J problem gambler screen
  • Research design
  • List of gambling activities and definitions
  • Questionnaire

Summary

This section of the report covers young people’s active involvement in gambling, based on self-reported experiences of spending their own money on gambling activities in the past 12 months. It includes analysis of the demographic profile of those who reported gambling with their own money and explores why young people gamble.

This section also reports on 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.

Around a quarter of young people (26%) gambled using their own money in the 12 months preceding the survey, a decrease from 30% in 2025. Participation was higher for non-age-restricted gambling activities than for age-restricted forms of gambling (24%, compared with 5%).

Arcade gaming machines remained the most common gambling activity involving young people's own money, with 19% having participated in the past year. Other commonly reported activities included betting for money with friends or family (11%) and playing cards for money (5%).

The primary motivating factor for young people to gamble remained enjoyment, with 78% of those who spent their own money on gambling in the last 12 months saying they did so because it was fun. Other common motivations included feeling they had a good chance of winning something (35%) and because the games were simple to play (30%) and trying to win money (29%).

The youth-adapted problem gambling screen (DSM-IV-MR-J) classified 0.9% of young people as scoring 4 or more, 2.0% as scoring 2 or 3, and 23.1% as scoring 0 or 1. While there was no significant change in the proportion scoring 4 or more, or 2 to 3, the proportion who had never gambled increased from 69.6% in 2025 to 74.0% in 2026, indicating a decline in gambling participation alongside stable levels of higher-risk gambling behaviour.

Next section
Definitions

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Last updated: 12 November 2026

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