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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rob Davies

Proportion of children in Great Britain with gambling problem has doubled, data reveals

Gambling machines inside an amusement arcade
About a quarter (26%) of young people aged 11 to 17 said they had gambled using their own money in places like seaside arcades in the past year. Photograph: Roger Cracknell 09/UK/Alamy

The proportion of young people in Great Britain with a gambling problem has more than doubled, according to “astonishing” official data that prompted calls for urgent government intervention.

New figures from the Gambling Commission, which regulates bookies, online casinos and the national lottery, revealed a shock rise, to 85,000, in the number of children classified as having a gambling problem under widely used diagnostic criteria.

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