British gambling companies compliance teams will be feeling a sense of vindication this week as regulatory data suggests efforts and resources poured into age verification are paying off.
According to the Gambling Commission, the number of under-18s participating in gambling in the UK has declined overall, and of the small number who do gamble the overwhelming majority do so outside the age-restricted categories of bookmakers and casinos.
The Commission’s annual study of children and young people’s participation in gambling found that 74% of 11-17 year olds indicated that they had never gambled, an increase from 69.6% last year.
Of the remaining children/young people who had gambled, 26% said that they had spent their own money on gambling in the past year, down from 31% in 2022. However, the majority of this was not on age restricted products, meaning they did not gamble in a betting shop, physical casino, or online bookmaker of casino.
The Commission also added that the majority of this gambling was in the legal market, lining up with previously published datasets which suggest that the majority of people engaging with illegal gambling sites are men aged between their 20s-40s.
Gambling products and practices most engaged with by 11-17s were arcade gaming machines such as penny pushers and claw grab machines (19%), placing bets between family and friends for money (11%), or card games between friends and family for money (5%).
“The Commission’s focus is on ensuring that children and young people are not able to spend money on age-restricted gambling products, with an appreciation of the wider context,” said Ben Haden, Director of Research and Statistics.
Progress overall, but still room for improvement?
There was also a decline in the number of young people stating that they had experienced negative consequences of gambling such as missing school, spending school dinner money on gambling, or lying to friends or family about their habits.
This figure dropped from 1.2% in 2025 to 0.9% last year, though this is still 0.9% higher than the regulator, the regulated industry, gambling reform campaigners, and society at large would like – a rare moment when all can come to an agreement on a gambling-related topic.
The same can be said of the figure showing that although overall the majority of 11-17s do not gamble, 5% of the 3,867 English and Welsh school children surveyed by the Commission said they had spent their money on age restricted products.
This means that although the regulated sector as a whole is performing its age verification duties well, there are clearly some young people slipping through the cracks, perhaps by using parental ID, deep fakes, or in two worse case scenarios either finding legal bookmakers which are lax on ID checks or finding an illegal website.
The publication of the study comes amid seemingly never ending scrutiny of the British betting sector, whether this comes from campaigners for legal reform in the form of lobbying, the government in the form of taxes or licensing changes, or broadcasters like Channel 4 in the form of staged game shows.
Evidence showing that under-18s mainly distanced from the industry is a positive sign that, with the exception of the 5% who made it through, regulated betting companies and the regulator are keeping on top of player protection.
However, the Commission did find that 45% of young people still “experienced’ gambling in some way, down from 50% in 2022.
This could include experience of gambling via marketing, one of the most hotly debated topics on gambling regulation in the UK and one where campaigners often cite exposure of young people to gambling content as a reason for significant restrictions, or even an outright ban on gambling advertising.
