Watchdog survey: ‘One in two youngsters gamble’

Nearly half of all 11 to 17-year-olds admit to gambling, a Gambling Commission survey has revealed.

The watchdog’s annual report on Young People and Gambling found that 49 per cent had gambled, “but not necessarily spending their own money on doing so”.

On behalf of the Gambling Commission, Ipsos surveyed 3,666 British school children aged 11 to 17, between January and June 2025, on their exposure and involvement in gambling in the previous twelve months.

‘Normalisation’

According to the report: “Three in ten (30 percent) 11 to 17 year olds had spent their own money on any gambling activity in the 12 months prior to completing the survey, with boys (34 percent) more likely than girls (27 percent).

“This represents an increase from 27 percent in 2024, which appears largely driven by a rise in unregulated gambling (18 percent in 2025, compared with 15 percent in 2024).”

Daniel Bliss attributed the significant rise in ‘unregulated gambling’ by young people to “private betting” — examples given in the report included “placing a bet for money between friends or family”, or “playing cards with friends or family for money”.

He said: “It doesn’t feel like gambling but it’s the normalisation of gambling. We’ve heard from parents that their child is playing Fifa on their headset, and before they start the game they say ‘the winner of this gets a tenner’ — they’re gambling on the outcome of the game.”

Influencers

Young people, the survey found, are more likely to be exposed to online rather than offline gambling advertisements —through social media (49 per cent), apps (47 per cent), and YouTube (42 per cent). Sixteen per cent of all respondents said “that influencers had advertised gambling-related content to them”.

Industry-funded charity GambleAware recently urged policy makers to address gambling advertisements on social media after research commissioned by the charity showed that a quarter of children and young people say “they have been tempted to spend money gambling after seeing a celebrity gambling or advertising gambling”.

Charity CEO Zoë Osmond warned: “Social media platforms and influencers now play a pivotal role in shaping attitudes and behaviours and this research shows that some are playing a part in encouraging young people to gamble.”

She described it as “unacceptable that children’s environments continue to be flooded with age-restricted content” and called for urgent action to be taken so that Government policies “catch-up with the digital age”.