The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published new research that is focused on exploring the gambling behaviour and experience of young people and adults between 16 and 30 years of age.
The global insights agency 2CV delivered the research after using both quantitative and qualitative methods in order to provide the gambling regulator with the chance to further explore the views of this exact age group through their own eyes. The research is complementary to a wider research programme carried out by the UK Gambling Commission that is trying to get more data about the gambling experience of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
As found by the 2CV research, engagement with gambling products through their childhood and early years as an adult could actually line up amongst the biggest milestones and life events, such as family gatherings, first job, increasing financial independence, etc. It turned out that British children were commonly engaged with gambling or gambling-style activities but their participation during their early years mostly came as a result of being involved with other people’s gambling.
This basically proves that family and friends had an extremely important role in shaping the gambling behaviour of young people, while marketing and advertising actually played a lesser role when it comes to influencing children and young people or act as a trigger pushing them to gambling.
The research found that for some young people or vulnerable adults exposure to both the extreme positive and negative effects of gambling at an early age made them more interested in gambling at a later stage of their lives. In some cases, such exposure even led to more harmful or riskier gambling behaviour and gambling patterns.
Gambling Patterns, Preferences and Behaviour Change as People Get Older, Research Finds
When it comes to experiencing gambling harm, it turned out that young people were most vulnerable to the negative effects of gambling after getting independent from their parents. Furthermore, the gambling patterns, behaviour and preferences of people seemed to change as they grew older. They also depended on the person’s personal experience of winning and losing, as well as on some changes in their responsibilities and lifestyle.
The Executive Director of the UKGC, Tim Miller, said that keeping people safe and protecting them against possible gambling-related harm has always been one of the main objectives of the British gambling watchdog. That is why the Commission gets enough information about the ways in which children and young people get exposed to gambling, their gambling preferences and behaviours, as well as the factors that affect their relationship with gambling operations.
As explained by Mr Miller, the latest research carried out for the UKGC by 2CV was an important part of the regulator’s ongoing and wider research programme into the latest gambling trends in the country and the locals’ gambling behaviours. He also shared that further action to protect local consumers should be backed with evidence, which is exactly what the recent research provided it with, especially when it comes to children and younger people.
- Author
Daniel Williams
