A new study has revealed that more than 400,000 British teenagers have been addicted to casino-style gambling through the video games they play. According to results of the investigation, the children aged 13 to 18, have been able to gamble their winnings generated from online video games for cash on various games of chance.
Currently, under-aged individuals in the UK are not allowed to gamble. However, some gambling options are actually been available thanks to so-called virtual in-game items called “skins”, or some character costumes or weapons that can be won or purchased by players in video games.
As reported by The Telegraph, one of the advisory services for schools and parents, Parent Zone, is now calling for the Government to act urgently in order to close the loophole which allows the above-mentioned in-game items to be used as digital currency for minors to gamble or cash out. The organisation’s Head of Consent, Giles Milton, explained that the investigation showed that gambling operators were not engaged enough in stopping such a trend. Mr. Milton said that parents’ awareness of what was actually happening with their money must also be raised.
What is more, some concerns related to skins trade and the way this trade is associated with gambling addictions among British teenagers. The investigation’s results showed that there are currently 6 billion skins in circulation, with their total worth being estimated at about £10 billion.
Gambling Addiction Spreads Among Minors through Skins
Earlier in June, the World Health Organisation (WHO) finally included gaming addiction to the list of medical disorders treatable on the NHS. For some time now, some anti-gambling campaigners and charities focused on helping problem gamblers have tried to raise the awareness of authorities and local communities about the increasing number of children who got hooked on gambling through video games.
Parent Zone has carried out an Ipsos MORI poll on the scale of skins betting, with the study showing that 10% of children between 13 and 18 years of age, or almost 450,000 teenagers, confessed that they have gambled on unregulated casino, mystery box games and online sports betting services. Approximately 27% of these children had heard of skins betting, while about 29% thought it was a serious problem for under-aged individuals.
In spite of the fact that most operators usually have age-verification checks in order to keep minors away from their gambling and gaming websites, the investigation found that almost half of the under-18s shared that they were actually been able to access restricted gambling websites in case they wanted.
As mentioned above, so-called skins are used to modify the appearance of various in-game objects and characters. They can be bought for real money or earned on the Steam gaming platform which allows players to trade such skins to each other for real money which can be used to purchase more skins or games. Users are not allowed to withdraw their balance. In addition, there are some unaffiliated websites which allow players to wager their skins on online casino games or professional video game matches and even cash out the proceeds.
- Author
Daniel Williams
