Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of children identified as problem gamblers between (a) 2010 and (b) 2020.

The Gambling Commission conducts an annual survey of children and young people that collects data about gambling participation. Since 2014, that survey has included screening questions adapted for use with adolescents to identify respondents who may be problem gamblers. Problem gambling rates for all available years are given in the accompanying table. No comparable data is available for the years 2010-2013.

The latest published data is from 2019 and gives a problem gambling rate of 1.7% amongst 11-16 year olds, which is steady from the previous year. Changes to the survey’s methodology throughout its lifetime mean it is not possible to identify long-term trends. In 2017 the survey was extended to cover Scotland and the pool of respondents was widened to include 16 year olds, and in 2018 the survey moved online from paper-based questionnaires. Further detail about the survey and its findings can be found in its 2019 report, available at: https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Young-People-Gambling-Report-2019.pdf

Table: Rates of problem gambling amongst 11-15/16 year olds since 2014