This week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) released its 2022 Young People and Gambling Report, an annual research that helps the competent authorities and regulators understand British children’s and young people’s behaviour, exposure and involvement in all types of gambling available in the country. The results of the study are used by the UK gambling watchdog to better protect this specific and probably most vulnerable group from the potential negative effects of gambling.
In the latest survey, the UKGC revealed there is clearly a group who still finds it hard to control gambling, although the overall headline data around regulated age-restricted products is encouraging. The regulatory body of the British gambling sector also shared that it remains committed to understanding the facts and acting on the survey’s findings in order to get more valuable details about young people’s gambling behaviour.
According to the Commission, it is important for the regulator to understand if and how young British people are playing on both regulated and non-regulated products, as well as the challenges for them lurking in the industry, and the wider implications.
The 2022 Young People Study of the UK gambling watchdog found that 0.9% of children between 11 and 16 years of age are categorised as problem gamblers.
Most British Children Believe Their Gambling Was Legal, UKGC Says
In 2022, 31% of children acknowledged that they had spent their own money on gambling services in the last 12 months. Most of them said that their gambling was legally permitted or the products they gambled on did not feature any age-restricted products. Such products are, for example, arcade gaming machines, which include so-called claw-grabbing or penny-pusher machines (22%), placing a bet for money between family members or friends (15%), or playing cards for money with friends or family (5%).
Furthermore, a minority of children revealed that their gambling was on slot or fruit machines (3%), placing bets on eSports (2%), playing online instant-win games offered by the UK National Lottery (1%), National Lottery scratchcards (1%), laying casino games online (1%), as well as placing a bet through an online gambling platform or mobile application (1%).
As the main industry regulatory body, the UKGC requires gambling operators to have strong safeguard measures in place to prevent underage individuals from accessing products illegally. These measures also include rules preventing gambling advertising and marketing materials from targeting children.
According to the Gambling Commission, understanding the relationship between gambling and British children is a historically complex task. In any case, protecting customers from gambling-related harm is the very core of the watchdog’s job and it has accelerated its efforts to make sure the UK’s gambling sector is safe.
Some of the examples of UKGC regulatory efforts include enhancing the regulator’s enforcement activity against gambling companies that fail to comply with the rules, including operators that have targeted underage individuals. Other regulatory work done by the Gambling Commission, imposing stricter measures on online slots products, enhancing customer interaction requirements for local gambling companies, increasing the online gambling age and implementing stricter ID verification measures, as well as suspending the use of credit cards for gambling transactions.
- Author
Daniel Williams
