The 2026 Student Gambling Survey – Key Findings

I’ve read every annual student gambling survey since Ygam and GamStop started publishing them, and the 2026 data tells a story that’s both encouraging and deeply concerning – depending on which numbers you focus on. Participation is down. Problem gambling rates are down. But the students who do gamble are losing significant money, the problem-gambling cohort remains alarmingly large, and offshore casinos are an increasingly visible part of the picture.

The headline figures: 65% of UK students gambled at least once in the past year, down from 78% in 2022. Among those who gambled, 18% were classified as problem gamblers, down from 24% in 2023. Fewer students gambling, and a smaller proportion of those who gamble meeting the threshold for problematic behaviour. Both trends are positive in direction. But 18% of a population that includes hundreds of thousands of active gamblers is still a substantial number of young people in genuine difficulty.

65% Participation and 50 Pounds-Plus Weekly Losses

The participation decline from 78% to 65% over four years is meaningful and likely reflects a combination of factors: increased awareness campaigns on campuses, tighter age-verification at licensed operators, and a generational shift in attitudes toward gambling that several studies have documented. The stigma around gambling harm has decreased, making it easier for students to choose not to participate, while the stigma around problem gambling has increased enough to serve as a deterrent for some.

But among the 65% who do gamble, the intensity is striking. Students who gamble lose an average of more than 50 pounds per week. Male students spend an average of 33.54 pounds per week on gambling – almost as much as their average weekly food budget of 36 pounds. When a student’s gambling spend is comparable to their grocery bill, the activity has crossed from entertainment into a financial commitment that competes with basic needs.

These averages mask extreme cases. The 50-pounds-plus figure includes students losing 10 pounds per week alongside those losing hundreds. The distribution is heavily skewed: a relatively small number of students account for a disproportionate share of total losses. But even the median figures suggest that student gambling is not a trivial activity for those who engage in it. The financial vulnerability of students – limited income, high living costs, easy access to credit – makes even moderate losses consequential in ways they wouldn’t be for an employed adult with disposable income.

18% Problem Gambling Rate Among Students

An 18% problem gambling rate is lower than the 24% recorded in 2023, and that’s progress. But compare it to the general adult population’s problem gambling rate of 2.7% from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain 2024. Students gamble problematically at nearly seven times the rate of the general population. The university environment creates conditions – social pressure, financial stress, newfound independence, digital literacy that makes online gambling frictionless – that amplify risk factors across the board.

GamStop’s own data shows that registrations among 16-to-24-year-olds surged 40% year on year in the second half of 2025, with this age group accounting for 29% of all new sign-ups. The overlap between the student population and GamStop’s fastest-growing demographic is not coincidental. Young people are both gambling more intensively and seeking self-exclusion at accelerating rates – a pattern that suggests awareness and distress are growing in parallel.

The survey doesn’t break down which types of gambling platforms students use, but anecdotal evidence and search trend data suggest that offshore casinos are part of the picture. Students are digital natives. Finding a non-GamStop casino through a search engine or social media recommendation takes seconds. For a student who has self-excluded through GamStop – perhaps after a bad month during exam season – the pathway to an offshore site is as simple as a Google search. And at that site, no stake caps, no affordability checks, and no GamStop integration exist to slow them down.

How Students Access Non-GamStop Casinos

Roughly one in ten GamStop-registered individuals admit to regularly using offshore casinos. Among students – a cohort that is tech-literate, financially stressed, and disproportionately likely to self-exclude – the real figure is probably higher, though no study has specifically measured it.

The access routes are predictable. Search engines remain the primary discovery channel. Social media – particularly platforms popular with younger demographics – is an increasingly important one. Crypto-based casinos appeal to students who are already comfortable with digital currencies. Peer referral within university social circles creates a network effect that licensed operators, constrained by advertising regulations, cannot replicate.

What makes this particularly problematic is the combination of vulnerability and absence of protection. A 20-year-old student who self-excluded through GamStop, depositing at an offshore casino using Bitcoin from a phone in a university library, is simultaneously one of the most vulnerable types of player and the type most completely beyond the reach of UK regulatory safeguards. The 2-pound stake limit that would apply at a UKGC site for an 18-to-24-year-old doesn’t exist. The GamStop block doesn’t trigger. The affordability check doesn’t happen. The reality check notification doesn’t appear.

Universities are beginning to respond. Some have integrated gambling awareness into student welfare programmes, and campaigns like Ygam’s educational initiatives are reaching campuses directly. But institutional responses operate at the prevention end. For the student already in trouble – already self-excluded, already turning to offshore sites, already losing 50 pounds a week they don’t have – the support system that matters is GamCare, the NHS gambling treatment clinics funded by the statutory levy, and device-level blocking tools like BetBlocker that work where GamStop cannot. A fuller treatment of these resources is covered in the guide to responsible gambling tools outside GamStop.