Report
Illegal online gambling: Consumer engagement and trends
The Gambling Commission’s report into estimated trends in consumer engagement with illegal gambling websites.
Online gambling using parents’ or guardians’ accounts
To understand the context in which young people experience online gambling, all young people in the survey were separately asked if they had ever used their parents’ or guardians’ accounts to gamble online, with or without their permission. This covered playing National Lottery games online, or playing on gambling websites or to place bets online.
Overall, 8 percent of young people had used their parents’ or guardians’ accounts for these types of online gambling, with most having their permission (7 percent overall), as opposed to not having their parents’ or guardians’ permission (2 percent overall). The same patterns are apparent when looking at specific types of online gambling as 6 percent of young people had played National Lottery games online using their parents’ or guardians’ account with their permission, compared to 1 percent without their permission. Similarly, 6 percent had played on gambling websites or placed bets online via their parents’ or guardians’ account with permission, compared to 2 percent without permission.
Boys were more likely than girls to have used parents’ or guardians’ account without their permission. This is the case for both playing National lottery games online and playing on gambling websites and/or placing bets online (2 percent compared to 1 percent respectively).
Figure 5.1: Online gambling using parents’ or guardians’ accounts
Figure 5.1 information
GC_PLAYONLINE. Please read all of the sentences below and select those that are true about you. Here ‘online’ refers to websites and apps.
Base: All answering (3,329).
| Online gambling using a parents or guardians account | Percentage (multiple response question, therefore, answers do not sum to 100 percent) |
|---|---|
| I have used my parents’ or guardians’ account to play National Lottery games online with their permission | 6% |
| I have used my parents’ or guardians’ account to play on gambling websites or to place bets online with their permission | 6% |
| I have used my parents’ or guardians’ account to play on gambling websites or place bets online without their permission | 2% |
| I have used my parents’ or guardians’ account to play National lottery games online without their permission | 1% |
| None of these sentences are true about me | 92% |
The proportion of young people overall who used their parent’s or guardian’s account to gamble online has remained consistent with figures in 2022 and 2023. Within this, the proportion who used their parents' or guardians’ account to play National lottery games online without their permission decreased, to 1 percent in 2024 from 2 percent in 2023, returning to the same figure as in 2022.
Table 5.2: Online gambling using parents’ or guardians’ accounts, in 2022, 2023 and 2024
Table 5.2 information
GC_PLAYONLINE. Please read all of the sentences below and select those that are true about you. Here ‘online’ refers to websites and apps.
Base: All answering 2022 (2,295), 2023 (2,750), 2024 (3,329).
| Online gambling using a parents or guardians account | 2022 (percentage) | 2023 (percentage) | 2024 (percentage) | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2022 | Statistical differences 2024 compared to 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used parents’ or guardians’ account to play National Lottery games online with their permission | 5% | 5% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Used parents’ or guardians’ account to play on gambling websites or place bets online with their permission | 5% | 5% | 6% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
| Used parents’ or guardians’ account to play National lottery games online without their permission | 1% | 2% | 1% | No significant difference | Significant decrease |
| Used parents’ or guardians’ account to play on gambling websites or place bets’ online without their permission | 1% | 2% | 2% | Significant increase | No significant difference |
| None of these sentences are true about me | 93% | 92% | 92% | No significant difference | No significant difference |
Last updated: 7 November 2024
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