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Statistics and research release

Young people and gambling: Qualitative research

Qualitative research conducted by 2CV, with 11 to 17 year olds, to build on and contextualise the findings from the annual Young People and Gambling survey.

Latest release

Summary

This release contains findings from new qualitative research with 11 to 17 year olds exploring their lived experiences of gambling. The research was conducted by 2CV to build on and contextualise the findings from the annual Young People and Gambling Survey and strengthen the evidence base feeding into Evidence theme 1 - Early gambling experiences and gateway products of our Evidence gaps and priorities programme of work.

Details

Key Findings

The sphere of influence has expanded

The sphere of influence has expanded beyond close family and friends to celebrities, online influencers and sporting figures (particularly footballers). Formal partnerships and endorsements between celebrities, sports professionals, and gambling organisations increase the likelihood of young people being exposed to gambling-related content.

Exposure to gambling is predominantly in the online world

Young people are encountering gambling advertisements on Instagram, TikTok and sporting apps when checking live results and through watching content creators gamble and sharing the outcomes of high-stake games.

The changing experiences of gambling reduces supervision

Many of the gambling experiences shared by young people in this research highlighted learning experiences within family environments for example, parents setting spending and time limits in an arcade while on holiday.

However, the older children 2CV spoke to shared examples of gambling-like activities in an unsupervised environment, mainly casinos in games like Grand Theft Auto where the opportunity to learn about safe gambling experiences is reduced. Parental supervision in this context may well focus on violent or inappropriate content, time spent online or who their children are playing with rather than exposure to gambling style activities.

Teenage boys are at heightened risk of exposure

While gaming is popular across genders, this research found boys often engage more intensely in gaming which increases their exposure to gambling-like features and in-game purchases. They were also more interested in football, heightening their exposure with the links between football clubs, betting apps and sponsorship by gambling organisations.

A lack of understanding of gambling harms leaves children and young people vulnerable to potential future harm

The young people in this research lacked the understanding of the impact that gambling harm can have on an individual.

Full publication

View the Young people and gambling: Qualitative research report.

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