ESRI Research Bulletin

Young people who gamble in Ireland

ESRI Research Bulletin Articles provide short summaries of work published by ESRI researchers and overviews of thematic areas covered by ESRI programmes of research. Bulletin Articles are designed to be easily accessible to a wide readership. A reference or references to the full publication is included at the start of each Bulletin article.

January 5, 2023
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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.