This study explores gambling, gaming and simulated gambling amongst young people aged 12-17 years in New South Wales. 

Building on the NSW youth gambling study 2020, this is the first study to conduct a large qualitative exploration of gambling transitions amongst young people in New South Wales and the key influences on these transitions.

Importantly, the study gave young people the opportunity to identify strategies and environments that can help to protect them against gambling harm.

Key findings:

• Adolescents in this study reported varying gambling transitions as they grew up. Non-gamblers maintained a stable pattern of no or little gambling from childhood. Many non-problem gamblers increased their gambling in their teens, indicating a pattern of progression but not to problematic levels. Some non-problem gamblers reported a transitory pattern with decreased gambling in their later teens. Gambling in the at-risk/problem gambling group intensified through adolescence.
• The study supports previous findings that young people’s gambling attitudes and behaviours are shaped through social processes involving numerous changing sources of influence as they grow up. These include parents, peers, gambling advertising, sports interests, gambling opportunities, and monetary and simulated gambling products. These sources can exert risk and protective influences. 
• Young people report an unprecedented level of influence from a wide range of sources that promote gambling, and that permeate their home, school, social, media and digital environments. They report being inundated with promotional gambling messages in their everyday lives, especially sports betting adverts and adverts for social casino games which they interpret as promoting gambling.
• Protective strategies and environments need to be multi-faceted to tackle these multiple areas of influence, in alignment with a public health approach.
• The young people in this study want environments that prevent gambling harm for young people, with tighter regulation of gambling and simulated gambling products, far less advertising, age-related restrictions for simulated gambling features, and gambling education in schools.