Young people who gamble in Ireland

Globally, there has been a huge increase in gambling availability and participation in the last thirty years. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional (offline) modes of gambling have declined, while there has been a substantial rise in internet-enabled access to gambling. Studies tend to find that problem gambling is in the range of 1% to 3% of the population, peaking before the age of 30. Young people are the highest risk cohort of exposure to, and engagement in, online gambling, and young adults may be at a heightened risk of engaging in problem gambling. In this study, we examined factors which may be predictive of young people’s likelihood to engage in online gambling activities and regularly gambling.