Gambling Commission report produced by Ipsos on young people and their gambling behaviour, attitudes and awareness in 2024.
Of young people, 27% spent their own money on gambling in the 12 months prior to taking part in the survey.
During that period, the most common types of gambling activity that young people spent their own money on were legal or did not feature age restricted products, namely:
The survey found 21% of young people were spending their own money on regulated forms of gambling (which includes some activities that are legal and played within licensed premises), and 15% on unregulated forms of gambling (gambling activities which fall outside the remit of the Gambling Commission).
When removing arcade gaming machines, which are legally accessible to young people, 6% spent their own money on regulated forms of gambling. This is an increase from 4% in 2023.
A total of 1.5% of young people scored 4 or more on the youth-adapted problem gambling screen (DSM-IV-MR-J), 1.9% scored 2 or 3, and 23.2% scored 0 or 1. The proportion of young people overall scoring 4 or more on the DSM-IV-MR-J has risen from 0.7% in 2023 to 1.5% in 2024.
Just over 1 in 10 (11%) said that their own gambling had led them to talk to their parents about how they felt while 9% said that gambling had made them feel uncomfortable around their friends (such as feeling embarrassed or feeling friends would not approve), at least sometimes.
A quarter of young people (26%) had seen family members they live with gamble, and of that 26%, 9% indicated that it had resulted in more arguments or tension at home.
Awareness of advertising and marketing has increased between 2023 and 2024 but remains in line with where it was in 2022.