Online gambling is a highly popular entertainment activity. You can get instant access to a wide range of casino games, and other gambling-related websites!
While these games are perfectly legal in most countries, minors are not allowed to gamble online. The younger generations are always glued to their devices. As parents, we have a strong influence on our kids' lifelong relationships with gambling.
Right from the start, the parent’s relationship with gambling has a huge influence on their children.
BE AWARE
Findings from the NSW Youth Gambling Study 2020 show that if kids have a family member who gambles or, even worse, they gamble together, the minors are more likely to develop a gambling addiction early.
Gambling Percentages in the UK Youth Population
According to a UKGC 2020 study that included 1.645 school kids between the ages of 11 and 16, in England and Scotland:
- The most popular way to access online casinos is via mobile, especially for young people.
- Most online gambling is done at home.
- eSports betting is growing quite a lot, and it is fuelled especially by younger males
- 37% of young individuals gambled in the last year
- 50% of young individuals gambled while being supervised by a guardian
- 2.7% risk gamblers
- 1.9% problem gamblers
- 7% out of 58% admitted to being influenced to gamble after watching promotional gambling materials
- Moreover, evidence from a population-based study shows that the more accessible online gambling becomes to children, the number of lives that are being negatively affected also increases.
Reasons Why Your Child Could Become Addicted to Gambling
- Kids are very observant.
They see all the actions of their family members, and later they unconsciously replicate these actions. Moreover, they watch commercials and movies that celebrate casino-style gambling. This is the perfect way for them to get that small dose of that same excitement by playing video games.
These days, children are exposed to venues such as racetracks, where gambling is common as well as expected. Furthermore, exciting games that are available on mobile and online applications allow them to wager fake money to win.
RECOMMENDATION
Keep your eyes on your child. Have compassionate conversations, and open up to them in return. This makes it less likely that he will need to seek escape in a virtual game.
Up next, we will present you some of the most common ways children could be exposed to gambling while browsing the web:
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Social Media Influencers
There is no doubt that the virtual world is a great place for entertainment. Yet, you must know that many of the renowned influencers earn their money from partnering with various websites.
All parents must consider the fact that many of the deals that influencers make are quite harmful to kids. That’s because some of the products influencers promote are very similar to gambling.
Check out, for example, the Jake Paul scandal. Jake is one of the most popular influencers who was involved in promoting fake mystery box websites to his audience (mostly minors) and asking them to “ use the parent’s credit card to win some great things”.
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Online Gaming Microtransactions
It is also important for you, as a parent, to know that lots of online games use gambling mechanisms to create addiction.
Some of these games charge real money to acquire all sorts of items that are supposed to help the player progress or purchase skins and other cosmetics. A microtransaction can appear in the form of loot boxes with randomized rewards.
- Websites Using Gamification
This is a term that refers to a specific marketing strategy meant to attract younger audiences. In this strategy, websites use various gaming elements such as experience, progress bar, or level. As mentioned earlier, the goal is to attract a high number of children.
Most online platforms have been implementing gamification in their user interface. Therefore, this results in kids being exposed to different gambling activities without even knowing.
Important Measures You Need to Take to Protect your Child from Gambling
FACT
According to a 2019 SellCell survey, 42% of children spend 30+ hours a week on their mobile.
Psychologists discovered that monitoring your child’s online activity is essential in preventing gambling behavior. Take a look at the leading solutions for protecting your kid from online gambling:
- Make Sure You Use the Parental Controls
Don’t forget to request these controls from your internet provider. Most ISPs allow users to limit the platforms to which specific devices have access. What you need to do is to contact your internet provider.
Talk to the support team and request them to block those sites that have content related to gambling. Don’t forget to also request blocking any other sites that are harmful to kids.
- Set Limits for Internet Usage
With a modern app such as Google Family link, parents can set screen time limits and manage the app usage on their kids’ devices. If you are using an iOS device, you can set boundaries right from the phone’s settings.
- Direct Communication
Many kids are scared to talk about the Internet with their parents. Yet, you as a parent should initiate the conversation and tell your child about the dangers of browsing the web. It is important to be calm and not aggressive.
Just let your kid know that you are there for him to listen to his problems and offer support.
- Don’t Ignore the Incentives and Encouragements to Gamble
These days, there are many TV adverts and online pop-ups related to gambling. You should not ignore them and try to prevent your child from being exposed to them.
- Use Password Access to Protect Your Gambling Accounts
Are you a gambler yourself and you don’t want your child to be influenced by you?
Well if so, then make sure you don’t play when your kids are around. Furthermore, don’t forget that children are extremely smart and intuitive when it comes to technology.
You never know how your child can find out that you are gambling online. Therefore, you should use password access to protect your gambling accounts.
- Download Parental Control Software
In the past few years, the demand for access blocking services has skyrocketed. There are plenty of great options that are becoming available every single day. For example, innovative software such as KidLogger or Net Nanny, allows parents to monitor their child’s online activity.
REMEMBER
The best prevention is information! Moreover, you can block certain sites, read their texts, and monitor social media activity.
Below, we are going to list for you the best parental control third-party software.
Check Out our List of Best Parental Control Third-Party Software
There are several third-party parental controls for monitoring or restricting your kids’ online activity:
This software protects kids from adult as well as inappropriate content while browsing. With Net Nanny, you can monitor very well your family’s virtual habits. Therefore, you will be able to protect your children from harmful content. You can limit screen time and also block apps and websites.
This software has been successfully used by parents all over the world since 1995. Cyber Sitter can be used for blocking adult-oriented platforms. Moreover, it forces safe search on search engines and updates every single day.
Qustodio offers concerned parents innovative and very efficient tools to help supervise children online. It is one of the most powerful monitoring tools.
Cyber Patrol is excellent at filtering the internet, masking profanity as well as pornography. The software manages unwanted content.
Kidlogger is another great software that permits you to monitor your kid’s online activity. With Kidlogger you can block apps, schedule access to various online games, and also read SMS.
Identifying Gambling Addiction. Signs to Look for
The truth is that it can be quite tricky to tell when kids deal with gambling problems. That’s because they don’t always run into the financial difficulties that most adults problem gambling experience.
Yet, some warning signs that your kid might have a gambling problem can include the following:
- Sudden changes in the amount of money your kid has, or even your kid borrowing money from family and friends
- Withdrawal from friends, events, and social activities
- Secrecy about online gambling or even denial that he has a gambling problem
- Falling marks at school
- Huge changes in sleep patterns, very low energy levels, and irritability when he is away from gambling activities
- He secretly uses your card to make gambling transactions
You Must Not Ignore this Problem. Instead, Seek Help
If your child is addicted to gambling, then it is absolutely necessary to seek professional help. Here are the options you have:
- Get advice from a psychologist or your GP
- Contact Addictioncenter.com or National Centre for Behavioural Addictions
- Call the Gambling Helpline 1800 858 858 – 24-hour telephone counseling service
- Call the Gambler’s Help Youthline on 1800 262 376 or Lifeline on 131 114
- Contact the Gambling Help Online which offers email and web chat support services
Final Thoughts
Gambling addiction is a very serious problem. There is no doubt about it. Yet, the good news is that this is not something that cannot be prevented or treated. By using the actionable tips as well as the resources from this article, you can obtain a positive result.
You can easily and efficiently prevent or overcome your kid’s gambling addiction with the right support institution, therapy scheme, or the right app.
Use our guide to choose the best options, and if you run into any kind of problems yourself, read our responsible gambling article that covers all you need to know about addiction and treatment.