Gambling and teenagers – Where, how and when children and teenagers gamble

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Gambling is popular among people of any age, starting from children and ending with elderly people. But, what in particular does children and teenage gamble bring and what are the risks of becoming addicted?

Even though official it is allowed to gamble only when you become of age, many children put a start to it at their early years, which is around 10-15. Gambling at this age comes in more innocent forms, such as card games with peers or scratchy cards and lotteries on LottoAsian. Some stay at this stage and some pass on to something more serious, like sports betting websites, online casinos and so on. Online gambling is pretty easy to access and such websites are being advertised on the majority of online services, which awakens the interest in teenagers.

Why gambling seems like fun to children and teenagers

First of all, gambling industry is so wide-spread nowadays that many youngsters perceive it as something usual and normal to do. What’s more, such type of activity involves social interaction by messaging and sharing personal gambling experiences, which makes it even more interesting for teens. 

It also brings some feeling of adrenalin and sensation along with high expectations of winning, which stimulates the brain in a way that’s hard to achieve by simple day-to-day activities.

Spotting teenage gambling problems

If you have a hard time noticing whether your child has any type of gambling problems, pay attention to these things:

  • Groundlessly increasing amount of money that your child possesses / its shortage
  • Changes in behavior such as sleeping problems, mood swings and easy irritability
  • Unwillingness to be socially active
  • Keeping their gambling activity a secret
  • Visiting various online casinos such as Gclub Grand (you can check their browser history for that)

Preventing teenage gambling

It’s important to find a reason for such addiction. For teenagers, gambling may seem as an accessible distraction from reality, where the problems they don’t want to cope with, exist. Pay attention to what is going on in your child’s life, whether they have friends or it’s hard for them to communicate with others, whether they have any mental problems, which worry them and, last but not least, whether they have troubles at school. 

Make sure that your child knows how gambling works, educate them about the algorithms of online gambling and teach them that it’s impossible to always be the winner in these games.

Risk factors for developing gambling problems

Some factors, which you may also notice in your child, give out an addictive personality:

  • Any types of addiction, like smoking, drinking or taking drugs
  • An impulsive personality, who is always looking for new activities to bring them the feeling of sensation
  • Ignoring obvious problems and unwillingness to solve them (they find it easier to distract themselves than to face reality)
  • Proneness to frequent depression and anxiety
  • Having an example to follow in front of them, it may be a gambling-addicted parent or a relative with any type of addiction.

About the author:

Jack Gallaher is the founder of Play Pulse, a place where players from all over the world can find the best online casinos Internet can offer. He enjoys creating game guides and sharing his strategies with the community and friends. Prior to founding Play Pulse Jack worked as a community manager on a famous gambling portal.

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