30% of Young People Gambled in 2025 Study
The Gambling Commission has released its Young People and Gambling Report 2025, offering updated insight into how minors across England, Scotland and Wales encounter gambling-related activities. The findings highlight a rise in overall participation while problem gambling rates remain statistically unchanged. The report is based on survey data collected from 3,666 pupils aged 11 to 17.
Overview of the Study
The annual Young People and Gambling research is designed to assess how children and young people engage with gambling-related behaviours. The 2025 edition draws on classroom-based, online self-completion surveys conducted in academies, maintained schools and independent schools across Great Britain. The sample includes pupils aged 11 to 17, providing a broad perspective on current youth experiences with gambling and gambling-adjacent activities.
According to the report, exposure to gambling remains widespread among young people. Forty-nine percent of respondents had encountered some form of gambling in the last year, and 30 percent reported spending their own money on gambling during the same period. The proportion identified as experiencing problems with gambling stood at 1.2 percent, a figure viewed as statistically stable when compared with 1.5 percent in 2024.
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Common Forms of Youth Gambling
Activities that are legal or not age-restricted continue to dominate the categories where young people spend their own money. Arcade-style gaming machines, such as penny pushers and claw grabbers, were the most common, with 21 percent reporting participation. Private betting between friends or family accounted for 14 percent, while 5 percent had played card games for money within similar informal settings.
The Gambling Commission emphasises the importance of strong safeguards to prevent underage access to regulated gambling products. Recent regulatory changes apply to all land-based licensees, including smaller operators. These include new obligations requiring test purchasing for age verification and an updated standard instructing staff to verify the age of any customer who appears under 25, rather than under 21.
The Commission is expanding its evidence base to explore how children and young people first encounter gambling or gambling-like features. This work examines products and environments such as loot boxes, social games, prize draws and other adjacent activities that may influence later engagement with gambling. These insights form part of a broader evidence roadmap aimed at understanding early behavioural pathways.
Expert Commentary
Tim Miller, Executive Director of Research and Policy at the Gambling Commission, noted the trends reflected in the data. He said:
“Each year this report further strengthens understanding of the relationship between young people and gambling.
“We have seen an increase in participation in gambling – 27 percent in 2024 compared to 30 percent in 2025. The research shows that it is not children being encouraged or allowed to gamble underage driving this increase – it is the increased participation in gambling that is either legal or does not require regulation, such as private betting between friends.
“Even with that increased participation, the percentage of those scoring four or more on the youth-adapted problem gambling screen has not increased but has moved from 1.5 percent last year to 1.2 percent this year, which is classed as statistically stable.
“Where it relates to regulated forms of gambling, we use the data to continuously keep under review and, where needed, strengthen the suite of protections for young people that we require gambling companies to have in place.”