This survey is the latest in a series conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Gambling Commission. The aim of the survey is to explore young people’s attitudes towards gambling and their participation in different types of gambling activities, designed to provide a means of tracking these perceptions and behaviours over time. The survey looks at those forms of gambling and gambling style games that children and young people legally take part in along with gambling on age restricted products. The research was conducted using Ipsos MORI’s Young People Omnibus, a representative online survey of pupils attending academies and maintained schools in England, Scotland and Wales(excluding fee-paying and other establishments covering 11-16 year olds). In total 2,943 11-16 year olds participated in the research across 124 schools. Data have been weighted to the known profile of the population, in order to provide a representative sample.

Headline findings:
11% of 11-16 year olds say they spent their own money on gambling activities in the seven days prior to taking part in the survey. This is down from 14% in 2018.
5% of 11-16 year olds say they have placed a private bet for money (e.g. with friends) in the past seven days, with a further 3% playing cards for money with friends in the past seven days.
4% of 11-16 year olds report playing on fruit or slot machines in the past seven days.
3% of 11- 16 year olds say they have played National Lottery scratchcards and 2% say they have played the Lotto (the main National Lottery) draw in the past seven days.
69% of 11-16 year olds say they have seen or heard gambling adverts or sponsorship with 83% of those saying that it had not prompted them to gamble.
1.7% of 11-16 year olds are classified as ‘problem’ gamblers, 2.7% as ‘at risk, using the DSM-IV-MR-J-screen. In 2018, 1.7% of 11-16 year olds were classified as ‘problem gamblers’ and 2.2% were classified as ‘at risk’. The 2019 results do not represent a significant increase over time.