Britain faces growing youth gambling problems, according to new national data. Children and young people lack protection despite regulatory promises lasting years. Public health warnings failed to create sufficient safeguards. GambleAware published their Gambling Harms and Young People in Great Britain report. Gambling Commission figures reveal 30% of 11-17-year-olds gambled. Young people spend their own money on these activities. The percentage increased by 3% from the 2024 statistics. Unregulated market participation jumped from 15% to 18% simultaneously. UKGC noted these trends happen together.

Industry experts believe restrictions push youth toward offshore operators. These platforms offer weaker oversight than UK sites. Harm reduction efforts might create opposite effects. Research methods contain acknowledged flaws according to UKGC statements. The regulator depends on this problematic data anyway. Online gambling exposure among minors keeps rising consistently. 31% of youth saw influencer gambling promotions in 2025. Digital spaces make advertising enforcement difficult for authorities. Traditional media channels lost ground to online platforms.

UK law cannot reach many gambling platforms now. Policy makers face challenges when tightening regulated sector rules. Migration to unregulated sites accelerates with each restriction. GambleAware findings highlight this major shift happening now. Gaming apps contain gambling-like content, targeting children increasingly. Social media feeds show gambling advertisements to young users. One third of 11-17-year-olds see gambling ads on phones. Tablets replaced traditional media for gambling promotion exposure. Regulated operators meet stricter compliance requirements than before. Offshore markets grow by avoiding age verification systems. Disclosure rules and advertising safeguards remain weak offshore.

Research Quality Problems

Major evidence limitations affect the report’s conclusions significantly. GambleAware funded most studies between 2020 and 2025. External research received limited inclusion in the synthesis. Funder priorities shaped which themes researchers could explore. The academic landscape remains partially represented at best. Rapid sector changes outpace research publication timelines constantly. Informal evidence mapping replaced structured review methods here. Comprehensive coverage becomes impossible with this approach choice. Confidence in findings suffers from methodological shortcuts taken.

Field-wide weaknesses persist, according to researchers themselves. Small samples limit many studies’ statistical power considerably. Non-representative groups frequently provide data for important conclusions. Self-reported harms create reliability issues throughout the literature. Adult tools like PGSI measure child gambling poorly. Children and young people need different assessment methods. Current research probably misses the actual risk scale. Longitudinal data tracking of gambling behaviours remains completely absent. GambleAware started operations in 2002 without establishing tracking. UKGC began work in 2007, but created no monitoring. Seventeen years passed without building essential evidence infrastructure. Effective interventions need time-based behavioural data desperately.

Research gaps reflect regulatory system failures across Britain. Young adult gamblers experience harm at a 19% rate. Problem gambling affects them twice the adult average. Digital oversight needs immediate strengthening to protect youth. Data quality improvements must happen alongside longitudinal studies. Current systems might increase harms instead of reducing them.