On November 13, 2025, the Gambling Commission released its most recent annual report on how much gambling children and teens are exposed to. It was called the "Young People and Gambling Report 2025."
The study looked at 3,666 students between the ages of 11 and 17 from schools in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Key findings at a glance
The report says:
- 49% of kids aged 11 to 17 indicated they had gambled in the past year,
- 30% of those who answered said they had used their own money to gamble during that time,
- The percentage of young individuals with gambling-related disorders was 1.2%, which is a decrease from 1.5% in 2024 (albeit statistically steady).
Breakdown of Activities
Most of the gaming that young people did with their own money was not on commercial gambling sites, but rather through legal or unregulated channels. The most common things to do were:
- Playing arcade games like penny-pushers or claw-grabbers: 21%,
- Betting money with friends or family: 14%,
- 5% of people play cards with friends or family for money.
What the regulator did and how it protected people
The Gambling Commission said that keeping kids under 18 safe is still a key focus. It has put new laws in place for licensed operators who work on land. For example, they must buy age-verification tests and check the age of any customer who looks younger than 25 (instead of 21).
Tim Miller, the Commission's Executive Director of Research and Policy, said:
"This report helps us understand the connection between young people and gambling even more each year. Even with more young people participating, the percentage of those scoring four or more on the youth-adapted problem gambling screen has not gone up."
Looking ahead: actions that lead to early exposure
The survey also shows that there is more interest in how young people might first come across "gambling-adjacent" activities like loot boxes, prize drawings, and social gaming, and whether they could lead to gambling.
This fits with what the government is planning to do in its upcoming review of the Gambling Act 2005, which is based on the White Paper "High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age."
Informal Betting Among Minors Highlights Regulatory Blind Spots
The problem-gambling rate of 1.2% is still low, but the fact that over half of young people have "experienced" gambling and almost a third have spent money on it raises problems that are important for policy. The fact that minors often gamble informally or for fun (such betting with friends and relatives or playing arcade games) shows that there are gaps in the law.
The business and authorities have to find a way to safeguard people legally and enforce the rules for authorised forms of gambling, while also dealing with the less formal places where people under 18 bet.
New Report Highlights Evolving Risks in Youth Gambling Behaviour
The Gambling Commission's most recent report gives us more proof that child gambling is still a complicated and changing issue. Policymakers may start to pay more attention to early-stage behaviours and "gateway" exposures as participation rises but problem gambling levels stay the same. The next step in study and regulation reform will likely be to figure out how to stop young people from being involved in gambling-related activities too soon and make sure that protections keep up with the new ways that young people wager and play games.
For more information and detailed report: Gamblingcommission website.