Stronger protection of minors urged by UK Gambling Commission

A new report on gambling published Thursday has prompted the UK Gambling Commission to urge parents and the industry to strengthen the protection of minors.

The 2018 Young People and Gambling report reveals that gambling participation by 11 to 16 year olds has increased in the past 12 months but remains lower compared to all previous years.

Nevertheless, the research indicated that more children are at risk of being harmed by gambling, necessitating the call for more protection.

The most common gambling activities that attract minors were identified by the research, which noted that these are frequently outside the scope and control of direct Commission regulation.

In this regard it points to bets between friends, lottery scratch cards purchased by parents and playing fruit machines in pubs, and recommends a more proactive and collaborative approach than is presently the case.

Despite wide media publicity on the dangers to young people of gambling, researchers found that only 19 percent of children felt that their parents had imposed strict anti-gambling rules at home..

Tim Miller, executive director at the Gambling Commission, said: Protecting children from the harms that can come from gambling remains one of our highest priorities. In the areas we have regulatory control, we continue to strengthen the protections in place to prevent underage gambling, such as our recent proposals for enhanced age verifications checks for online gambling.

But regulation alone cannot address all of the risks that young people may face from gambling. Our latest research shows that the most common forms of gambling by children do not happen in gambling premises. Some of these are legal, such as bets between friends; some of these are unlawful, such as gambling on machines in pubs. But all of them present risks to young people as there is no form of gambling that is risk-free. It is therefore vital that all those with a part to play in protecting children and young people parents, businesses and regulators work together.

Last week, the Commission called on the pubs industry to take urgent action following serious failures to stop children playing on age restricted 18+ gaming machines. In September 17 global gambling regulators teamed up with the Commission to work together to address the risks created by the blurring of lines between video games, social gaming and gambling.

The Commission is also currently consulting on strengthening age verification processes.

Key findings of the new report included:

* 14% of 11-16 year olds had spent their own money on gambling in the past week, this is up from 12% in 2017 but is still lower than rates seen prior to 2017;

* The principal forms of gambling in the past week were placing a private bet for money with friends (6%), National Lottery scratchcards (4%), fruit/slot machines
(3%) and playing cards for money with friends (3%);

* Young people who have gambled in the past week spent an average of GBP 16 on gambling during this period;

* Over the past 12 months, 39% of 11-16 year olds have spent their own money on gambling;

* 6% have gambled online using a parent or guardians account;

31% have ever opened loot boxes in a computer game or app, to try to acquire in-game items, while 3% claim to have ever bet with in-game items (so called
skins gambling);

* 59% agree that gambling is dangerous and only 14% agree that it is acceptable for someone their age to gamble;

* Around half (49%) of respondents said that someone had spoken to them about the problems that gambling can lead to, with the conversation typically taking
place with a parent (40%) or teacher (21%);.

* 60% of young people think their parents would prefer them not to gamble at all, however only 19% stated that their parents set strict rules about gambling with
no negotiation;

* 1.7% of 11-16 year olds are classified as problem gamblers, 2.2% as at risk.