Views & Opinion Online gambling on the increase in lockdown Comment by Dr ASHA PATEL, CEO of education not-for-profit Innovating Minds
Gambling is widespread and during lockdown is becoming more of a problem for young people and their families. Figures from an Ipsos MORI Young People and Gambling Survey of 1,645 pupils aged 11-16 in England and Scotland, completed before schools were shut on the 20 March show that:
• 9% of 11–16-year-olds in England and Scotland said they had spent their own money on gambling activities in the seven days prior to the survey. That is three in a typical secondary classroom
• Respondents were most likely to have placed a private bet for money (5%) or played cards for money with friends (3%)
• 37% of 11–16-year-olds in England and Scotland had gambled in the previous 12 months
• 51% of these respondents said they were with their parent or guardian the last time they had gambled
• 1.9% of 11–16-year-olds in England and Scotland were classified as ‘problem’ gamblers
• 2.7% could be classified as ‘at risk’
• 58% of 11–16-year-olds had seen or heard gambling adverts or sponsorship
• 7% said this had prompted them to gamble when they weren’t already planning to
Confusion around gambling There are laws which make it illegal for young people to take part in most gambling activities. The legal age is 18 for going to a casino or placing bets or gambling in betting shops. To do the lottery young people have to be 16. However, there are many other forms of gambling such as raffles card games, fruit machines in arcades where young people can gamble without breaking the law. The Gambling Commission say that gaming can be a route into
betting, with betting adverts on TV during sporting events and close to a million young people exposed to gambling through "loot boxes" in video games or on smartphone apps. This is likely to get worse during lockdown as children are spending more time online, being bombarded with pop ups on free- to- play games. The key factor right now is that so many young people are spending
most of their time on their own in their room with access to the internet, phones, laptops and tablets in easy reach and every time they look for a game to pass the time, they are likely to be inundated with adverts created by experts to entice them into joining up and spending money.
Gaming v gambling There are many good things about online games. They provide a welcome distraction for young people who want to relax after doing their
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schoolwork, to do something more active than being a passive consumer of television or YouTube videos, and who want to engage with a wider community. However, many experts feel that it is a key first step in gambling. At Innovating Minds, we wanted to know more
about the issue and so we worked with the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM) a national charity that helps young people make informed decisions and understand more about the risks of gambling and gaming. They have provided a webinar which you can access from our EduPod site for the next twelve months. Children accrue points, 'treasure', credits or
currency rewards of different sorts and use them to buy ‘skins’, perhaps an item of clothing or a weapon for their avatar. This gets them used to spending money while gaming, albeit via a virtual currency. Then there are loot boxes. These take the child to the next step, moving them on from a simple purchase to gambling. They are spending money
without knowing what they will get: it may be something useful and desirable of it may be disappointing and then the game will encourage them to try again.
Embroiled in gambling Lucy Gardner, Education Manager at YGAM, led the webinar Youth Gaming & Gambling Awareness: Harm Prevention. She explained how this can spiral out of control. One of the attendees on her course described how she was in a Zoom work meeting during lockdown and had left her eight-year-old playing. Two hours later she was horrified to find that her daughter had spent £500 on her dad’s credit card. In fact, she had been a very busy girl, buying loot boxes in a frantic search for unicorns. An incident like this is likely to be a one-off but some young people
gradually become more embroiled in gambling. A recent survey of 2,080 university students showed that nearly half had gambled in the last year and of these, 1 in 12 were problem gamblers, some with debts exceeding £10,000. Gambling affects the body. When children are gaming and gambling
there is a release of cortisol, high levels of endorphins and heightened sensations often including a rush of energy. When it passes, they feel flat and want some stimulation to regenerate the buzz. The online world with its speed and carefully crafted appeal to all the senses can seem more real to young people than the world they live in. Gambling is now such a serious problem that it is recognised as an
addiction and there are centres set up by GambleAware and NHS England to help children. However, it also requires preventative measures. Although the PSHE curriculum is so packed, schools still need to make
time to discuss gambling, its links with gaming and the dangers that it can pose to many children.
Useful links:
https://www.ygam.org/ https://www.myedupod.com/youthgamingandgambling
https://www.begambleaware.org/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/gambling-addiction/
February 2021
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