A new study published this December by the Gambling Commission underscores a growing public concern which has been echoed recently in the national press – that of children being exposed to gambling, and even participating in real money gaming.
With an especial focus on the gambling behaviour of those aged eleven to sixteen, the report discusses children of this age experiencing gambling in “consequence-free environments” such as using free-to-play games, or, more generally, mini-games hidden within larger computer games.
Such environments frequently have limited regulation of activities or are unregulated altogether. One such example are the loot boxes found in computer games such as Battlefront, which the Belgian government has just declared a form of gambling, calling for an EU-wide ban. Another key example is skin gambling, which we will consider further below.
Some of the more concerning findings published in the report include the fact that 12% of all 11-16 year olds spent their own money on gambling in the past week, and that 80% had viewed gambling adverts on television. Furthermore, only 39% stated that they had spoken with their parents about the problems gambling can bring.
Of course, there is a degree of parental responsibility here, but the industry must take the lion’s share. Although only 1% of children were found to be problem gamblers in the report, this still amounts to 25,000 youngsters nationwide.
One finding of particular note is that of the 12% estimated to have gambled in the week of the survey, 75% of those had done so using a licensed form of gambling. The most common forms were the national lottery and fruit machines, but 11% of gambling cases by children were found to involve skins betting.
Skins are modified weapons and items for online games such as Counterstrike, some of which cost up to four figure sums. Children were found to be frequently gambling these items using third party websites, either to gain the items themselves for use in game, or to ultimately trade them for cash. Underlying the naivety of this age range, 40% of children surveyed said the reason for their gambling had been in order to “make money”.
Naturally, the Labour party have jumped on the report, with deputy leader Tom Watson speaking out about the lack of response to this as a mental health problem by the Conservative government. Labour have pledged to put a compulsory levy in place for gambling operators that would cover problem gambling treatment programmes, to further restrict online casinos and bookmakers, and to cut the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to the minimum £2. Watson also stated that they would consider a possible ban of gambling companies on football shirts to limit child exposure to gambling “normalisation”.
The face of online gambling is, no doubt, only going to get more complicated and multi-faceted. It’s likely that further under-regulated means of gambling will emerge as the technological options for gaming diversify. This is not a problem which is going to go away anytime soon. A regulatory system more focused on protecting children, the vulnerable, and the innocent is, of course, very welcome. Any such efforts should help ensure both a more respected and sustainable gaming industry, as well as a happier and healthier population.
