Latest UKGC Report Once Again Highlights Underage Gambling
United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) published the latest report which reveals 12% of the country’s minors ranging from 11 to 16 years of age have spent money on gambling during the past week.
GambleAware charity’s find – completed for the UK regulator – states that more than 1 in 10 children spend money on gambling in the United Kingdom, once again highlighting the problem of young people being overly exposed to gambling risks from the earliest age.
Burning Issue
Video games, social media and unlicensed casino games are commonplace among youngsters from aforementioned age group and the study claims the biggest problem is a lack of communication about gambling problems by parents, which only drives the problem up in frightening rate.
The latest numbers are presenting a slight decrease from 16% of underage gamblers registered in 2016 but offer little encouragement knowing that British youngsters start gambling for the first time at the age of 12.
The report presents results collected on a sample of 2,881 UK children 0.9% of which have been classified as ‘problem gamblers’, whereas 1.3% have been tagged as ‘risk group’ and finally 15.5% of them have been labelled as ‘non-problem gamblers’.
The Internet Safety Stragety
The latest report has been published as a response to British Government’s request. The nation’s lawmakers and authorities are attempting to review the gambling industry and reduce the harm youngsters are being exposed to through this growing business.
The Internet Safety Strategy is being drafted but GambleAware claims it makes no reference to online gambling safety and strategies towards dealing with problem gambling.
The UKGC is keen to have the Government introduce child protection strategies in its Internet Safety Strategy but is also urging on parents to take a closer look at their children and make a swift move at first sight of problem by discussing the risks of gambling.
“It is essential that we work across industries and with parents so that together we can protect children and encourage those that choose to gamble in adulthood to do so safely.”, UK Gambling Commission Executive Director Tim Miller said.
The new form of betting – skin betting – first introduced in UKGC’s 2017 report has raised biggest concern from regulators.
The phenomenon is described as virtual gambling through video game items as prizes. Particular video game skins tend to go out for thousands of dollars on the web and skin gambling is emerging as one of the highly lucrative form of gambling.
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