A recent report revealed that NSW children at an age as young as 11 gamble with real money and play video games by using apps that simulate gambling activities, most often with their parents helping them.
According to a survey carried out for the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling, about 40% of children between 12 and 17 years of age from the state of New South Wales (NSW), are playing video games. They are also using mobile applications that very much look like gambling. A total of 551 young people divided into several focus groups took part in the survey.
Currently, underage gambling is not legally permitted in Australia. Unfortunately, about 30% of the young people, who participated in the survey, had gambled with real money in the past year. The results of the research showed that commercial gambling, including both land-based and online sports betting, lottery tickets, scratchcards and bingo, was the most popular form of gambling, followed by informal betting, such as poker.
About two-thirds of children confirmed they had purchased or opened a loot box in the last year. Another study found that one-third of children had spent approximately AU$10 on a monthly basis to purchase in-game items.
Natalie Wright, the director of the NSW’s Office of Responsible Gambling, explained that the results showed that gambling among NSW children was more widespread than ever. The increasing connection between gaming and gambling was also boosting the potential for gambling-related harm.
Parents and Increased Advertising Considered Key Factors for Underage Gambling Increase
According to the aforementioned survey’s results, many video games and gaming applications push children to spend real money on in-game items, also known as loot boxes, which provide them with the chance to win special and rare items or character boosters. Ms Wright shared that young children who play such games are being exposed to activities that mimic real gambling and could result in underage individuals starting to gamble at a young age.
The survey also found that 3.7% of the children who gambled were classified as problem gamblers or exposed at risk of becoming addicted to gambling. The results also showed that parents and advertising were the two major factors that affect underage individuals and encourage them to gamble.
More than half of the children who gamble with real money (54%) were doing so with the knowledge and help of a parent or a legal guardian, while 20% of young gamblers did so with a grandparent helping them. Furthermore, the survey found that approximately 58% of children who gambled originated from homes where adults gambled, too.
According to the research, the majority of children who accessed online gambling services did so through a parent’s account with their permission. Furthermore, parents often funded their children’s gambling.
As far as adverts are concerned, increased exposure to advertising was also considered a reason for increased problem gambling. Almost half of them (46%) confirmed they had noticed TV adverts at last weekly during racing and sports broadcasts.
The results of the report pretty much confirmed the findings of the CQUniversity’s NSW Youth Gambling Study 2020 that children as young as 11 and 12 were gambling.
- Author
Daniel Williams
