This report analyzes data collected from more than 8,000 people in Canada regarding their gambling activities. The data was collected in 2024 by Mental Health Research Canada as part of a broader online survey of mental health, and was analyzed in collaboration with Greo Evidence Insights. The findings indicate that nearly one in four (23.5%) young adults, aged 18 to 29, who reported gambling online in the past year experienced high levels of gambling-related harms, including financial, emotional, psychological, and relationship harms. The report calls for a pan-Canadian strategy to address rising online gambling harms, including among young people.
Additional findings include:
- Compared to people who engaged in lottery only, people who reported gambling online in the past year were about 10 times more likely to exceed lower-risk gambling thresholds (93.8% vs. 9.4%), 45.3 times more likely to meet the criteria for problem gambling (40.8% vs. 0.9%) and 21.1 times more likely to report high levels of gambling-related harm (19.0% vs. 0.9%).
- Young adults were 3.3 times more likely to report gambling online than play lottery only (9.8%), and 1.3 times more likely to engage in online gambling than in other types of gambling (25.2%).
- Among young adults who gambled online, 69.4% met the criteria for problem gambling and 23.5% reported experiencing a high level of gambling-related harms.
- Among those who gambled online, young adults were 6.1 times more likely to meet the criteria for problem gambling (69.4% vs. 11.4%) and 2.3 times more likely to report high levels of gambling-related harm (23.5% vs. 10.2%) when compared to adults aged 65+.
