"The data was based on a survey of more than 1,000 parents of 7 to 17-year-olds, polled on Mumsnet, an internet forum for parents of children and teenagers. The research was commissioned by Ygam, an independent UK charity dedicated to preventing gaming and gambling harms among young people. The bulk of the group's funding comes from GambleAware, a UK charity, with additional support from the UK gambling industry."
"While boys in the UK are bigger gamers than girls, the average time spent gaming for all genders has jumped 3.5 hours in the past year, to 20.4 hours per week, up from 16.8 hours in 2024. The average time children are expected to spend in a UK secondary school, meanwhile, is 32.5 hours. While these games often appear innocent to an observing parent, about half of parents noted gambling-like mechanisms in the games their child plays, including mystery boxes and loot boxes."
"As these in-game microtransactions involve spending money for a chance outcome, in essence, it's analogous to gambling. 'It is hard as a parent to manage it as there is so much peer pressure,' one parent of an 11 or 12 year old boy told researchers. 'He was one of the last children in his class to get a console and really felt left behind as it was all that the rest of his class would talk about.'"
British teenage boys aged 15 to 17 spend nearly 34 hours on average each week playing video games, based on parents' estimates. A survey of more than 1,000 parents of 7 to 17-year-olds polled on Mumsnet provided the data. The research was commissioned by Ygam, an independent UK charity, with most funding from GambleAware and additional support from the UK gambling industry. Average gaming time for all genders rose 3.5 hours in the past year to 20.4 hours per week. Many parents identified gambling-like mechanisms such as mystery boxes and loot boxes, and 41 percent expressed concern about exposure to microtransactions.
Read at Fast Company
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