The breach comes as experts warn of a gambling health crisis among young people

Betting companies have been given access to an educational database containing names, ages and addresses of 28 million children and students in one of the biggest breaches of government data.

They have used it to help increase the proportion of young people who gamble online. It contains details of children age 14 and above in state schools, private schools and colleges in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said last night: “I am very shocked to learn that data has been handed over in this way.”

Strict privacy rules mean the database, the Learning Records Service, should be used only for educational purposes.

When confronted with the findings of a Sunday Times investigation, the Department for Education (DfE) disabled