The Gambling Commission’s youth gambling data has come under fire after analysis highlighted apparently implausible and contradictory responses among children classified as problem gamblers.
The Gambling Commission’s youth gambling survey has been branded “junk” by Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, following analysis highlighting a series of apparently contradictory responses.
Writing in The Critic, Snowdon scrutinised the Commission’s Young People and Gambling Survey (YPGS), which estimates 1.2 percent of 11 to 17-year-olds are problem gamblers.
His criticism drew heavily on analysis by Regulus Partners’ Dan Waugh of the last three surveys, which identified 125 “problem gamblers” among 10,985 respondents.
Among them, six children claimed to have participated in every gambling activity listed during the previous week, including casinos, betting shops, online casinos and bingo clubs. One was reportedly just 12. Meanwhile, 31 classified as problem gamblers claimed to have visited a land-based casino in the previous week, despite most being aged between 12 and 15. Waugh also identified contradictions at the opposite end of the spectrum.
“One-third of the ‘problem gamblers’ reported no past-week gambling at all,” he noted, while a quarter reported participating in just one activity during the year.
Snowdon also questioned responses concerning advertising. Of 585 children who said advertising had prompted them to gamble, 323 simultaneously reported never having gambled. Only 0.35 percent of the total sample reported both being prompted by advertising and ever betting online, while 0.33 percent reported being prompted and visiting an online casino.
Snowdon argued such anomalies demonstrated the limitations of drawing conclusions from small numbers of anonymous self-reported responses.
“It is all junk,” he concluded. “You cannot draw any conclusions from the anonymous testimony of a handful of bored schoolchildren.”
Originally published on Coinslot on September 14, 2026. Republished with permission.