Annie Whyman, VP Inclusion
Young people are growing up with more safety risks online, particularly when it comes to gambling. There are increased advertisements, apps, and access to gambling sites, which have a number of challenges that come with them. YGAM (a charity that works in preventing children and young people from gambling through education) states that around 59% of young people have had some experience of gambling. There are similar, more subtle ways of gambling many people are unaware of, such as standard gaming features like rewards, mystery items and tradable items which gently mirror gambling mechanics and use psychological techniques to keep players engaged and invested.
Identifying the risks is important, and reaching out to the appropriate people can help. If you are only slightly worried about risk, financial problems and addiction, you can speak to the SUSU Advice Centre, but if you are extremely worried and at risk of financial problems, you should contact the appropriate charities and helplines listed below.
Guides and tools:
Ygam: For university students | Ygam
Gambling Commission: Safer Gambling
Responsible gambling: Tips to Keep Your Gambling Safe | Safer Play | For the Public | Responsible Gambling Council
GameCare: Self-Guided Resources – GamCare
Safer Gambling UK: Safer Gambling Week | Take Action: Safer Gambling Tools
People to talk to:
GamCare: Safer gambling – GamCare
Gamble Aware: Get gambling help, advice and support
National Gambling Helpline
- Scotland and England: 0808 8020 133
- Wales Helpline: 0909 2819 265
- Ireland: 18000 936 725
- Northern Ireland: 08000 886 725
Research papers:
Young people and gambling-related influencer content: social-finance_young-people-and-influencer-content_september-2025.pdf
Online gambling: social-finance_quantitative-report_september-2025.pdf
Student gambling survey 2026: Annual-Student-Gambling-Survey-2026-1.pdf
