The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) has released its 2023 Young People and Gambling Report - a yearly study that helps understand children's and young people's exposure to, and involvement in all types of gambling.
The research was carried out in schools, where pupils completed an online self-completion survey in class. The study gathered data from a 3,453 sample of 11 to 16 year olds just like in previous years, and for the first time, 17 year olds, attending academies, as well as maintained and independent schools located in England, Scotland, and Wales.
This 2023:
- 26% of respondents spent their own money on some form of gambling in the last 12 months, compared with 31% in 2022
- excluding arcade gaming machines which young people can play legally 4% of respondents spent their own money on regulated gambling (age restricted products), compared with 5% in 2022
- 0.7% of respondents were identified as problem gamblers by the youth adapted DSM-IV-MR-J screen compared with 0.9% in 2022
- 1.5% of respondents were identified as at-risk gamblers compared with 2.4% in 2022
- 55% had seen gambling adverts offline, compared to 66% in 2022, and 53% had seen adverts online, compared to 63% in 2022.
Gambling operators are required by the Commission to have strong safeguards in place to prevent children from accessing products illegally. This means that the most common types of gambling activity that young people spent their own money should be legal or did not have age-restricted products:
- playing arcade gaming machines such as penny pusher or claw grab machines (19%)
- placing a bet for money between friends or family (11%)
- playing cards with friends or family for money (5%)
Protecting children and young people from harm still remains a priority for the Commission and it strives to implement relevant proposals by Government in its Gambling Act Review White Paper
High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age.
This includes examining strengthening age verification in premises, by considering responses to proposals to:
- remove the current exemption from carrying out age verification test purchasing for the smallest gambling premises
- changing the good practice code to say that licensees should have procedures that require their staff to check the age of any customer who appears to be under 25 years of age, rather than under 21 years of age.
As part of the White Paper, the Commission is also examining staff supervision in some premises and will explore via consultation the evhigidence around premises where there's not normally direct staff supervision (such as Adult Gaming Centers in service stations) and consider whether existing requirements effectively prevent underage gambling.
Earlier this year, the Commission published its evidence and gaps priorities for research for 2023 to 2023. Under theme 1 ‘early gambling experience and gateway products' it said "we would like to expand our young people research to include 17 year olds. In previous years the Young People and Gambling Survey has collected data from 11 to 16 year olds, in school years 7 to 11 in academics and maintained secondary schools. To improve the breadth and quality of data this year an addition was made to include 17 year olds, those in year 12, as well as pupils from independent schools."
Read the full 2023 Young People and Gambling Report.
Source: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news/article/2023-young-people-and-gambling-report
