Child gamblers 'need special clinic'

[BingoT]

Child gamblers 'need special clinic'
Too little is being done to help an estimated 60,000 children in Britain with gambling problems, a leading mental health expert is warning.

The director of the NHS's first treatment clinic for people with gambling problems says there should be a similar centre for children.

Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones also said she would like a ban on all child gambling.

Currently children aged under 16 can legally play some lower stake and jackpot fruit machines.

They are allowed to play category-D machines, which allow a maximum stake of £1 and have various restrictions on prizes - including no money prizes greater than £10.

Britain is the only Western democracy that continues to allow children to play limited-stake fruit machines.

But the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London, which opened in 2008 and treats about 800 cases a year, only helps those over 16.

Dr Bowden-Jones says: "Although it is between 2% to 4% of the population of young people who have problems, we also know that far, far higher numbers are deemed to be at risk of becoming pathological gamblers or are gambling in excess."

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By Mike Thomson
BBC News

 

[dionysus]

I'd say kids are exposed pretty early. Facebook has loads of slots and games for credits, even if for fun. Sites like pogo for me when I was younger was all about chasing tokens. Heck, we all got scratch tickets in birthday and Xmas cards. And I certainly learned poker early playing with the 'big boys'. We're not only exposed, but inundated with gambling pretty early in.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Child gamblers 'need special clinic'
Too little is being done to help an estimated 60,000 children in Britain with gambling problems, a leading mental health expert is warning.

The director of the NHS's first treatment clinic for people with gambling problems says there should be a similar centre for children.

Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones also said she would like a ban on all child gambling.

Currently children aged under 16 can legally play some lower stake and jackpot fruit machines.

They are allowed to play category-D machines, which allow a maximum stake of £1 and have various restrictions on prizes - including no money prizes greater than £10.

Britain is the only Western democracy that continues to allow children to play limited-stake fruit machines.

But the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London, which opened in 2008 and treats about 800 cases a year, only helps those over 16.

Dr Bowden-Jones says: "Although it is between 2% to 4% of the population of young people who have problems, we also know that far, far higher numbers are deemed to be at risk of becoming pathological gamblers or are gambling in excess."

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By Mike Thomson
BBC News

It is the STAKE that is the main issue. Letting children stake £1 at a time is obviously not "amusement", which seems to be the argument behind the legacy protection in favour of family leisure centres and seaside arcades that was a concession granted when most fruit machines were first made 16+, and then 18+.

For children, they should have a max stake of 2p, keeping it well within "amusement", but naturally the operators won't make any money, and may actually end up subsidising this particular form of child entertainment.

One thing the changes did achieve is a virtual end to fruit machines in travelling fairs, where they were always played by children, and staff didn't really care about responsible gambling.

The norm for fruit machines available to children is 10p stake and £5 top prize. There is also the matter of the "penny push" and other games where children can play real money in order to win real money. These are not "fruit machines", and are not obviously going to be affected by legislation aimed at curbing fruit machine use.

We also have the gambling style games on social media, and thus widespread availability of "fun money" gambling without meaningful age restrictions.

The lack of any official recognition that children under 16 can become addicted to gambling is the real problem. By being in denial, the government are not likely to tackle this problem effectively. The gambling industry relies on those reaching 18 seeing gambling as a socially accepted norm, much like drinking and smoking. If anything, smoking is now considered more "deviant" than gambling. We don't see people who are gambling on their phones being told to leave the pub and gamble outside or face a £75 penalty, and complaints from other drinkers that they are suffering "passive gambling" by sitting near this person.