UK gambling survey shows young adults losing interest in online gambling

Young British adults aren’t gambling as much as they used to, stoking operators’ fears that their core products no longer hold the same appeal that they once did.

The latest gambling participation survey conducted by researchers Populus on behalf of the UK Gambling Commission shows 16% of respondents participating in some form of online gambling in the first half of 2016. The figure is up one point from 2015, which was unchanged from similar surveys dating back to 2013.

But when broken down by age, only 11% of respondents aged 18-24 years reported gambling online, down from 12% in 2015 and from 17% in 2014, which was up two points from 2013.

All other age demographics reported higher numbers in the current survey. Most of the gains were single digits, while those in the 45-54 bracket rose four points to 22%, 55-64’s rose two points to 16% and senior citizens were also up two points to 9%.