Gambling harm is on the rise among children and young people. Action is long overdue

Every year almost 500 lives are lost in the UK to gambling-related suicide. Behind these stark figures lies a wider pattern of harm, including anxiety and depression, broken relationships and physical health problems among young people growing up in households affected by gambling.

Despite this, gambling is still not properly treated as a public health issue in the same way as alcohol or smoking. That failure has consequences, not least for children.

Last year, I organised a mental health conference in my constituency. One of the most sobering sessions was delivered by Gambling with Lives, a charity formed by families bereaved through gambling-related suicide. They shared stories showing how gambling is not just an adult problem. It rips through families, schools and communities, leaving lasting damage for young people.

Read more:

• I took out loans and maxed out credit cards to fund my gambling addiction. I ended up homeless
• We need urgent action to protect next generation from ‘inescapable’ gambling
• Gambling should carry a public health warning like cigarettes to prevent suicides

Children can be hit twice by gambling. Indirectly, when a parent or carer’s addiction brings stress, conflict or neglect into the home. Then directly, when children are pulled into gambling themselves.

Today’s online slot-style games and betting sites make this easier than ever. This was brought home to me when I meet a young man who began betting online at just seven years old, an addiction that went on to dominate his teenage years.

This is not an isolated story. The Gambling Commission’s 2025 report found that around 190,000 children gamble or are considered at risk. Six per cent of 11- to 17-year-olds gambled on regulated products in 2024, much of it illegal for their age, up by 50% on the year before.

Children are especially vulnerable because their brains are still developing. There is increasing evidence that the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and decision making does not fully mature until the mid-twenties. When gambling is introduced early, the risk of addiction rises sharply.

Sport plays a huge role in young people’s lives, promoting health and developing social skills. Grassroots teams are at the heart of local communities. The professional games children watch, though, are saturated with betting logos on shirts, pitch-side boards, television coverage and social media. Their insidious message is clear. Gambling is glamorous and linked to sporting success.

As outlined earlier, the harm to children goes far beyond gambling itself. Growing up in a household affected by gambling is linked to anxiety, depression, family conflict and neglect. Charities like Gambling with Lives show how quickly harm can escalate. Problem gambling is often hidden until a crisis, with children carrying the emotional burden in silence.

The government has committed to reforms, including stronger online safeguards, limits on advertising, and a levy on gambling firms to fund treatment and support. These are long overdue steps in the right direction. But the online world is evolving fast, and regulation is still playing catch up with powerful tech and gambling interests.

As with social media, online techniques that hijack human brain chemistry are being used to drive up profits for companies while individuals and society pay the costs of lives damaged, or lost, and the cost of increased demand for NHS and other public services.

If we are serious about protecting children, gambling must be treated as a public health issue, not brushed off as a matter of personal, or parental, responsibility.

We see the evidence. We know the harm. Now is time to act.

Kevin McKenna is Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. He previously worked in the NHS as a frontline nurse.

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