By Open Door Correspondent “Bernie”
Three weeks ago we published an article following an announcement from the Government that it planned to reduce the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2. That article warned that the betting industry wouldn’t take this assault on their profits lightly, and the next area for concern after the demise of the FOBTs would be online gambling.
Online gambling has been around for as long as the internet itself. It’s a harder area to police than a physical betting shop, and an even harder area to reach those with a potential addiction to gambling. And it has recently emerged in an article published in The Guardian that 25,000 children aged between 11 and 16 are problem gamblers. That represents 1% of children in that age range. The number of 11 to 16 year olds who have gambled in the past week is even more staggering – 370,000, or 12% of the age range. A report by the Gambling Commission into the gambling habits of 11 to 16 year olds in 2017 warned that Britain was “walking into a future public health storm”.
We’ve come across that phrase here at Open Door Recovery very recently in relation to children, in an article warning of the dangers of Xanax use amongst the teenage population. Put these two issues together and it is clear we have a serious problem with addiction facing us. Scratch the surface and the reasons for this increase in addictive behaviour amongst 11 to 16 year olds soon becomes clear, but we’ll look at that in a future article.
So, what is it about gambling that appeals so much to our children? Much of it is online-based now, and teenagers are amongst the most IT literate of the population, and routinely spend in excess of 6 hours a day online, and often more than 12. And the gambling industry knows this, and they tailor their advertising accordingly. Social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter generate huge amounts of revenue carrying adverts for the online gambling industry.
”Skin betting” is one of the newer examples of how teenagers gamble online. This involves winning items in online video games, mostly knives and guns, which in itself is worrying. Third party websites then allow youths to gamble these items online, using virtual slot machines, with the opportunity to turn the virtual weapons into real cash. Not only does this have the worrying effect of normalising the idea of lethal weaponry amongst teenagers, but it also introduces them to gambling. The Gambling Commission report referenced above includes some alarming figures relating to teenagers and skin betting: -
45% of 11-16 year-olds were aware of "skin betting"
11% of 11-16 year-olds had placed bets using in-game items
59% of boys knew about the activity compared with 31% of girls
The figures presented by the Gambling Commision suggest that nearly half of all children are aware of skin betting. It raises further questions around how much parents really know about what their children are doing online.
Younger teenagers who take up gambling early, are more likely to develop addictive behaviours around the habit once they leave home and go to University. In an article for the BBC, Matt Zarb-Cousin describes how his habit led him to lose £2,500 in a single day on FOBTs, maxing out his overdraft and student loans, leaving him feeling suicidal. Is this what we really want for our children?
If we are to avoid the “future public health storm” predicted by the Gambling Commission in their 2017 report, we need to act now. We need to put pressure on the gambling industry to act more responsibly, and to stop targeting teenagers and young adults, who for the most part already have enough obstacles to deal with on their journey to adulthood.
The Living Room Cardiff is taking a proactive, lead role in protecting our young people from the harm caused by gambling. On the 19th of June we will present our annual lecture in the Old Library, on the Hayes in Cardiff. Professor Samantha Thomas of Deakin University will deliver a keynote lecture on the harm done generally by gambling addiction, but in particular the harm being done to our young people. The following day, the 20th of June, The Living Room presents the 4th Welsh National Conference on Excessive Gambling, this year focusing on gambling addiction and the brain. Tickets for both events are free, and can be booked by clicking on the relevant links.