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The Gambling Commission’s annual Young People and Gambling in the United Kingdom has found that a third of 11 to 16-year-olds (31%) spent their own money on some form of gambling in the last year.
Their survey broke it down further with legal arcade games favored at 25%, betting between friends and family came in at 15%, and playing cards for money at 5%.
More specifically, fruit and slot machines accounted for 3% and eSports betting 2%.
Overall, 0.9% of the age group are classed as problem gamblers. 24% were classified as "at risk" and some 28% said they had witnessed family members they live with gamble.
The commission said: “In this year’s survey, whilst the headline data around regulated age-restricted products is encouraging, there is clearly a group who still struggle with gambling.
“We are committed to understanding and acting on these findings in more detail to help us, and a variety of other stakeholders, appreciate if and how young people are playing on regulated and non-regulated products, the challenges, and the wider implications.”
It added: “Preventing gambling-related harm is at the heart of our work and we have accelerated our drive to make gambling even safer.
“Just some of those examples include ramping up our enforcement activity against failing operators, including those who have targeted children, clamping down hard on online slots products, increasing online age and ID verification, strengthening customer interaction requirements, and banning gambling on credit cards.”
