UKGC Releases Young People and Gambling 2023 Report

Article by : Milena Petrovska Nov 21, 2023

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The UK Gambling Commission has published the Young People and Gambling 2023 report produced by Ipsos. This annual survey focuses on the experiences that young people have with gambling, including where, how often, and with whom they gamble.

Per the official details on the UKGC page, the research happened across UK schools, and pupils were asked to complete online self-completion surveys. The target group was 11–17-year-olds, and the study represents the answers from 3,453 survey participants. Compared to last year’s version, this year they added 17-year-olds, while in the 2022 report, only the 11-16 age group was included.

Over a Fourth of Youth Aged 11-17 Spends Money on Gambling

In the Headline Statistics section, a worrisome detail appears first. Namely, the report has revealed that 26% of youth aged 11-17 have spent money on gambling activities before participating in the survey. This figure represents more than one-fourth of young people and showcases the need for strong underage gambling prevention policies.

However, per the survey details, the common types of gambling these individuals partook in were either legal or didn’t involve age restrictions. Among those who answered positively, 19% played arcade games like claw grab machines, 11% placed money bets with friends and family, and 5% played cards for money with friends or family.

Other less common answers included playing fruit or slot machines (3%), playing bingo (1%), placing bets on betting sites/apps (1%) and buying scratch cards (1%). Other responses that contributed with only 1% of the answers were betting on esports and participating in the National Lottery.

Additionally, the report revealed that 19% of the participants partook in legal gambling activities, while 14% took part in unregulated gambling forms. The latter are those outside the UKGC’s remit.

When it comes to problem gambling, the report concluded that 0.7% of the individuals in this age group were problem gamblers. An additional 1.5% were categorized as “at risk,” while 23% were classified as non-problem gamblers.

The majority of the participants (74%), about three-fourths of them, didn’t gamble actively in the last year.

Comparing the results with last year’s, the figures are positive. The at-risk figure dropped from 27.3% to the 23% seen this year. Moreover, the share of those who didn’t gamble actively has jumped by 5.5%.

Youth Gambling by Demographics – White Consumers More Likely to Gamble

Participants who defined themselves as white showed higher rates of spending money on gambling compared to black or ethnic minority backgrounds. The first group’s likelihood of spending money on the activity was 27%, while for the latter it was 21%.

The survey concludes that this situation may result from the fact that young people are likelier to gamble if they see family members do it. Among UK adults, those with a white ethnic background gamble more (30%) than the rest (21%).

While trying to discover patterns by gender or by age, the researchers couldn’t find any. For this section, the report simply states that “at-risk” gamblers would be involved in a wider range of gambling types.

Per the details, boys did have a higher likelihood of being classified as problem gamblers. Their rate was 0.9%, while among the girls the rate was 0.1%. As for being at-risk, the rate was 1.8% for the boys and 1.4% for the girls.