Gambling harm doesn't stop with the person gambling. It reaches into families, and children are often affected too, even when they don't understand what's happening.
At the same time, young people today are growing up in a world where gambling is more visible and more accessible than ever. From betting adverts during football matches to loot boxes in video games, the nudge to gamble can feel impossible to escape.
This page is for parents and carers who want to understand how gambling harm can affect children, and what practical steps you can take to protect your family.
How Gambling Harm Affects Children
Children can be affected by gambling harm in two ways.
The first is when someone in the family gambles. When a parent, carer, or another family member experiences gambling harms, the effects can ripple through the household. Stress, anxiety, and instability don't stay contained to the person gambling, and neither does financial difficulty. Children pick up on these things, even when they don't know what's causing them. For each person experiencing gambling harms, around six other people are affected, and children are often among them.
The second is when children and young people are exposed to gambling themselves. This can happen through gaming, where features like loot boxes and skin betting use the same mechanics as gambling products. It can happen through social media advertising and the gambling sponsorship that fills sport. And it can happen through easy access to online gambling, which is harder than ever to keep out of reach. Young people are growing up surrounded by gambling in ways previous generations weren't.
This page covers both. Whether you're worried about the effect gambling is having on your family, or about your child's exposure to gambling products, there are practical steps you can take.
When Gambling Is Harming the Family
Children are perceptive. Even when they aren't told what's happening, they often sense when something is wrong. They pick up on stress, on hushed conversations, on tension between the adults around them. They may not have the words for it, but they feel it.
When gambling harms affect a family, that uncertainty can reach children too. A sense of security comes from stability, and when something isn’t right, children can feel that something isn't normal, even if they don't understand why.
If you recognise this in your own family, it's worth saying clearly: this isn't a failure on your part. It isn't a failure on theirs either. Gambling products are designed to keep people gambling, and the harm they cause reaches further than most people expect.
Understanding how these products work can change how you see what's happening. Society often places responsibility on the individual, but people experiencing gambling harms are not weak or bad. Knowing this can help you approach the situation without blame, and can help you remind the person you care about that it isn't their fault either.
It's also worth remembering that you don't have to carry this alone. Watching someone you love experience gambling harms is hard, and it's easy to put your own health and wellbeing to one side. Support exists for you as well as for them. Sharing the load can make the difference between coping and feeling overwhelmed.
Recognising that harm is affecting your family, and deciding to do something about it, is one of the most protective things you can do for your children.
Getting support for gambling harms isn't just something you do for yourself. It can ease the stress in the home, restore some stability, and show your children that difficult things can be faced and worked through. If you're ready to take that step, our How to Stop Gambling guide is a good place to start, and our How and Where to Get Help page sets out the support available.
Children often sense when something is wrong at home, even when nobody tells them. Where gambling harms are involved, secrecy is common, and children can fill the gaps themselves. Some assume they're the cause.
If that's happening in your family, the most useful thing you can say is that it isn't their fault. You don't need to explain the details or have the perfect words. Reassurance matters more than information.
Beyond that, how much to share depends on your child's age and what they already know. If you'd like guidance on those conversations, organisations like GamFam offer peer support from other parents who have been through it.
Gaming, Loot Boxes, and Young People's Exposure to Gambling
For some young people, the first experience of something like gambling doesn't come from a betting site. It can come from a video game.
Many games include features that work in a similar way to gambling. Loot boxes are one example. These are paid items that contain random rewards, so the person spending money doesn't know what they'll get until after they've paid. Skin betting, where in-game items are wagered or traded for real-world value, is another. So are in-game currencies that blur the line between spending real money and playing.
What makes these features concerning is that they use the same principles as gambling products. The reward is unpredictable, which keeps people engaged and coming back for the next try. This is the same mechanism, called variable reinforcement, that makes gambling products so difficult to step away from. You can read more about how this works on our Addiction by Design page.
Exposure doesn't stop at gaming. Gambling adverts appear during sport, on social media, and across the apps young people use every day. Sponsorship has made gambling brands a familiar sight on football shirts and around stadiums. Over time, this normalises gambling, making it feel like an ordinary part of entertainment rather than something that carries real risk.
Signs That a Young Person May Be Experiencing Gambling Harm
If you're worried that a young person in your life might be gambling, or being affected by gambling-like products, there are some signs worth noticing. None of these on their own mean there's a problem. But if you notice several together, it may be worth starting a conversation.
Gambling harms are not just about losing money. They can affect any part of a young person's life, including mental health, relationships, school, and sleep. The strongest indicator of harm is which gambling products someone has been using and how often, rather than how much they've lost.
Some things to look out for:
Feeling anxious, restless, or having trouble sleeping. Changes in mood that seem connected to time spent on a game or app, in particular after losing.
Losing interest in things they used to enjoy. Withdrawing from friends, family, or hobbies that used to matter to them.
Being preoccupied with gambling or gaming. Talking about odds, bets, wins and losses, or seeming distracted by something they can't explain.
Becoming secretive about phone or device use. Closing apps when you come into the room, being defensive about what they're doing online, or spending more time alone with a device.
Spending more time on gambling-adjacent apps or websites, or on games with loot boxes and similar features.
Money that can't be accounted for. Running out of money faster than usual, borrowing from friends or siblings, or being unable to say where it went.
These signs can have many causes, and adolescence brings plenty of mood changes and secrecy that have nothing to do with gambling. The point isn't to diagnose. It's to stay aware, keep the lines of communication open, and notice if something doesn't feel right.
Practical Steps to Protect Your Family
None of this is easy. Young people are growing up surrounded by gambling, in games, on social media, across sport, and in the apps they use every day. No parent can be expected to shield a child from an environment built to be everywhere.
We want to be clear: keeping young people safe from gambling harm is not the responsibility of parents. That responsibility sits with those who design, market and regulate these products. What follows isn't a checklist you have to complete, and it isn't a measure of how good a parent you are.
But there are some things that can help, and none of them are complicated. You don't have to do all of them at once.
Set up parental controls on devices. On iPhone, Screen Time lets you restrict apps, block content, and prevent in-app purchases. On Android, Family Link does the same. These tools give you control over what your children can access and spend.
Review in-app purchase settings on gaming platforms. Many games allow purchases by default. Turning these off, or requiring a password for every purchase, stops children spending money on loot boxes and similar features without you knowing.
Know what your children are using. Take an interest in the games they play and check whether they include loot boxes or paid random rewards. You don't need to ban these games, but knowing they're there helps you talk about them.
Talk about money and risk in age-appropriate ways. Helping children understand that some products are designed to take more money than they give back is a valuable life skill, not just a gambling lesson.
It's worth knowing that the legal gambling age in the UK is 18, and licensed gambling sites are required to verify age. But enforcement isn't always consistent, and gambling-like features in games often aren't covered by these rules at all. That's why the steps above matter.
Where to Get Support
Whether you're worried about your child, dealing with the effects of gambling in your family, or seeking help for your own gambling, support is available for all of it.
For you and your family, Chapter One offers free, impartial information and support. Visit our How and Where to Get Help page to explore your options and find specialist NHS services in your area that provide advice, therapy and recovery support, as well as wider national support.
GamFam offers peer support for families affected by gambling. Connecting with other parents and family members who understand what you're going through can make a real difference. You can find them at gamfam.org.uk.
If you have concerns about a child's immediate safety or wellbeing, the NSPCC helpline is there to help on 0808 800 5000.
And if you're seeking help for your own gambling, our How to Stop Gambling guide sets out practical steps you can take, at your own pace.
Reaching out is a sign of strength, not failure. Whatever you're facing, you don't have to face it alone.
