Fewer students gamble in the United Kingdom, but those who do spend considerably more. That is the paradox that emerges from the fifth edition of the Annual Student Gambling Survey, published by the organizations Gamstop and Ygam after surveying 2.000 university students in the United Kingdom. The results paint a scenario where the intensity of harm advances even as participation recedes.
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Weekly spending skyrocketed in one year in the United Kingdom
The most striking data point in the report is the jump in average spending. Among students who gamble, the typical weekly expenditure went from $34 in 2024 to $63 in 2025, representing an increase of almost 85% in just twelve months. More than a fifth of that group reported spending over $63 per week.
This increase occurs in a context where overall participation in gambling has decreased: 65% of surveyed university students indicated they had gambled in the last year, compared to 78% recorded in 2022. The proportion of students already experiencing negative consequences also fell, from 24% three years ago to 18% in the current edition. However, experts warn that these declining indicators do not neutralize the red flag represented by the increase in individual spending.
Young men, the group with the highest exposure
The survey reveals marked differences according to gender. Participation in gambling reaches 75% of male students, ten percentage points above the general average. Four out of ten university men participated in online sports betting during the last year, making this format—after the National Lottery—the second most widespread type of gambling among the university population.
The highest levels of harm are concentrated in male students and those of mixed, Black, and Asian ethnic backgrounds, according to the report’s results.
Money, peers, and social media: the drivers of student gambling
The report identifies three factors that largely explain gambling habits in the university environment. The first is economic motivation: more than half of the students who play do so with the goal of winning money, suggesting that betting is perceived, at least in part, as a financial strategy in a context of economic pressure.
The second factor is the influence of the social environment. For the fourth consecutive year, friends and peers were identified as the main trigger for gambling behaviors among university students.
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The third element is the digital environment. The 2025 survey indicates that 34% of students who gamble consider that social media influences their behavior, possibly because they contribute to normalizing these activities among their peers. This data marks an increase compared to previous editions and positions digital platforms as an increasingly relevant risk vector.
Gambling interferes with academic and social life
The consequences of gambling transcend the financial. Almost half of the students who gamble state that gambling has negatively affected their university experience, with impacts including economic difficulties, low academic performance, and deterioration of social life.
The report does not treat gambling as an isolated habit, but as a phenomenon embedded in the broader reality of student life, where financial pressure, group influence, and digital exposure act simultaneously.
A call for education and prevention
For Fiona Palmer, CEO of Gamstop, the results show a worrying awareness gap regarding gambling risks within the student community. Although she highlighted as positive the increase in knowledge about available support resources, she stressed the need to continue taking action.
Tofield, for his part, emphasized the role of the digital ecosystem: «It is clear that the digital world in which they are immersed increasingly influences gambling behaviors, and we must respond to these emerging risks to ensure that students have access to the education and support necessary to protect themselves».
For the fourth consecutive year, the report used the short version of the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), considered the international standard for measuring gambling behaviors in the general population, although the authors themselves acknowledge its limitations in accurately differentiating between low and moderate risk groups.
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