This page contains information about the issue of gambling among young people. Download this page as a PDF (165KB) or Word .docx (126KB).
What's the issue?
On this page
Key insights
- Young people are most at risk of gambling harm.
- People under 18-years-of-age are gambling, even though it's illegal.
- Kids are exposed to betting via gambling ads, social media, video games and the gambling actions of friends and family.
- Parents, carers, teachers and schools play a key role in protecting kids from gambling harm.
What can you do?
Teachers, parents, carers, and sporting clubs can all play a role in helping young people understand the risks of gambling.
Find out what you can do as a:
Parents and carers play an important role in shaping young peoples’ attitudes towards gambling from an early age. Find out how you can start a conversation with your kids about the risks of gambling and discover tips for safer gaming.
The Be Ahead of the Game school education program takes a whole-of-school-community approach to helping young people understand the risks associated with gambling and gaming. Discover how teachers and schools can access free workshops and teaching resources.
Learn the facts about gambling including the odds of winning, what gambling costs individuals and communities, common gambling myths and the links between gaming and gambling.
The Love the Game Sporting Club Program aims to reduce the exposure of young people to sports betting promotions and to counter the normalisation of betting on sport. Discover how your local sporting club can get involved.
Are young people gambling?
The short answer is, yes. Although gambling is only legal in Australia for over 18s, research shows that increasingly, young people are finding ways to gamble.
A study on gambling among secondary students in Victoria and NSW (under the age of 18 years)* revealed that:
- about one-third of surveyed participants (29%) had ever gambled before the age of 18
- 9% had bet on sport in the past year
- The median amount bet by all students who gambled in the past year was between $11 and $20 per month
- The median amount bet by students classified as problem gamblers was $150 per month.
*Noble, N. et al (2025), The prevalence and correlates of gambling in secondary school students in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia, 2022–23, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne.
Download the Gambling among secondary students A4 factsheet: PDF (92KB) or Word .docx (563KB)
How does gambling affect young people?
Gambling is not like other forms of entertainment
Most gambling products are designed to keep you gambling, spending, and losing. It also has the potential to cause psychological, health, relationship, legal and financial harm.
How are young people exposed to gambling?
- Gambling advertising sends kids the message that betting is not only normal and risk free, but an 'essential' part of being an adult.
- Kids are also exposed to gambling via social media, video games, and the gambling activities of friends and family.
- Studies show that kids who are introduced to betting at an early age are more likely to experience problems with gambling as adults.*
*Dittman, C.K. et al (2022), The Role of Parents in Youth Gambling, Gamble Aware NSW.
Sports betting among young people
Sport and race betting mostly happens online. Young people can (and do) easily get around age restrictions to gamble online. Among Australian males aged 18 to 35 who gamble, 23% reported being under 18 when they first placed a bet on sports.*
*Jenkinson, R. et al (2018), Weighing up the odds: Sports betting and young men, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
The convergence of gaming and gambling
Online games and apps are blurring the line between gaming and gambling with games featuring gambling-like elements such as loot boxes, and simulated gambling such as social casino games. These features are teaching kids how to gamble without needing money. It's often easy to win in simulated gambling, leading kids to think they will win when they use real money to gamble.
Betting and alcohol use are often seen as a 'rite of passage' for young people
A study* into the link between gambling and alcohol use among Australian young adults found that initiation to gambling and alcohol use at or before the age of 18 was often seen as a 'rite of passage' for young people in Australia.
It also found that underage gambling and/or alcohol use was associated with greater harms related to gambling and alcohol use in adult life.
*Sakata, K. et al (2024), Bets 'n' booze research summary: Intersections of gambling and alcohol use among Australian youth and young adults, Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Why are young people at greater risk of gambling harm?
Gambling harm starts early
The younger they start, the worse the harm will likely be. Research shows that those who started gambling underage are at higher risk of experiencing gambling harm as an adult than those who started gambling when they were 18+.
Gambling can look like harmless fun to children and teenagers
Today's children and teenagers are growing up in a new era marked by high levels of sports betting advertising which makes gambling seem fun, exciting, and a normal part of everyday life. Betting ads never show people losing or any negative consequences of gambling so children are learning that it's a harmless and risk-free activity.
How young brains respond to gambling
Young people often find it more difficult to understand the risks associated with gambling compared to adults. This means that young people can be more impulsive, prone to make riskier bets, and more susceptible to the influence of advertising and incentives.
The rise of online sports betting among young people
The risks of sports betting
With few limits on the size or quantity of online bets, people of any age can easily get into trouble. Added to this, gambling companies know that inducements such as multi-bets and bonus bets are linked with increased betting expenditure, and encourage riskier betting.
Source | Hing, N, et al 2018, Effects of wagering marketing on vulnerable adults, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, Melbourne.
Young men are most at risk (but young women are catching up)
While young men (18–24 years) bet on sport more than any other age group in Victoria, young women are fast catching up. Betting on sport is one of the highest risk gambling activities with more than a third of Victorians who bet on sport experiencing harm.
Source | Suomi, A. et al, (2024), Victorian population gambling and health study 2023, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne.
Young people's online sports betting journeys and experiences
During adolescence sports betting was reported as normalised, with increasing exposure to sports betting influences, notably through advertising, online, social and broadcast media, sport watching interests and peer groups.
By ages 16 or 17 most looked forward to betting, or betting more, once they turned 18.
After turning 18, young peoples’ betting escalated. Advertising, instant access through smartphones, inducements and ‘free’ bonuses, encouraged frequent betting, the opening of multiple betting accounts and the normalisation of gambling in peer groups.
Source | Hing, N. et al, (2025). Journeys towards harm: Gambling and gambling harm among young online sports bettors, from childhood to early adulthood. State Government of Victoria, Melbourne.
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