Gambling Among Young People, 837 kB

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Popular games The most popular games among adolescents in the USA and Canada are cards, dice and board games played together with friends and family as well as betting games in sport and bingo. Despite age limits, it does happen that young people play on fruit machines and at casinos as well as via the Internet. Adolescents in North America tend to play privately with friends and family while adults tend to play the games offered by the gaming companies (7, 11). Young people in Australia prefer playing private card games, buying scratch cards, putting money on horse-racing and dog-racing, Internet poker and sport games. Young people also play on fruit machines where these are available despite the fact that they are not allowed to (15, 16). Young people in Europe are no different to their North American or Australian counterparts as regards the type of games they play. British adolescents for example, tend to play on fruit machines and scratch cards. When fruit machines were first introduced in the United Kingdom everyone was permitted to play on them regardless of age. However, after it had been reported that the gambling caused some adolescents problems, it was decided that all new machines would have age limits. Young people are still today allowed to play on the older machines and 60–75 per cent of young people say that they have played on these, usually in pubs or in amusement arcades (14, 21–24). In Norway, the most popular game among young people is also fruit machines; followed by card games, scratch cards and lotteries. 13–28 per cent of Norwegian adolescents say that they play on fruit machines once a week despite the age limit of 18(10, 12). There are many fruit machines in Norway, many more than in other European countries. The fact that the machines are easily accessible since they are also placed in shopping centres and shops as well as in restaurants and amusement arcades, contributes to the broad use of fruit machines among young people. Trisslotter (scratch card) is the most commonly played game among Swedish ninth graders, both girls and boys, but fruit machines are also played a lot despite the fact that there is an age limit of 18. In the CAN study from 2005, 20 per cent of the boys and 10 per cent of the girls said that they had played on a fruit machine in the last year. Moreover, 4 per cent of 15-year-old boys had played on fruit machines several times a month or even more often. Sports related games like Oddset and Stryktipset were also common, mainly among boys. Furthermore, 10 per cent of the boys and 1 per cent of the girls said that they had played poker on the Internet in the last year, and 4 per cent of the boys in the last week. Young people, mainly boys, play other games via the Internet as well to a certain extent. Boys at upper secondary school level play Oddset more than younger boys and 10 per cent play poker via the Internet several times a month or more often, while girls’gambling habits seem to be the same both in the seventh to ninth grade and at upper secondary school level (20, 18). Why children and young people gamble Results from studies on what motivates children and young people to gamble are presented in this section. The studies have been carried out in the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA and are based on interviews, questionnaires and an experimental study on children and young people aged between 10 and 20. The studies indicate that there are a number of reasons why young people choose or choose not to gamble; everything from the possible winnings to the pleasure, the social context and escapism. gains and losses Both children and young people in these studies say that the main reason for gambling is that they want to win money. According to an experimental study, money has a particular value for children of pre-school age. When choosing between a game where you win points or sweets and one where you win money, it is the possibility of making a financial gain that makes more children want to play the latter, to play for longer and to come back and play again. Younger adolescents, aged between 11 and 15, say in interviews that they may decide not to gamble because of the risk of losing money involved, they feel that it is difficult to deal with losing money, they do not have so much money and they have 15
16 few possibilities of obtaining more. Also some say that they are afraid of getting into debt and that they therefore do not dare gamble (25–28). pleasure and spare time Another reason why children and adolescents gamble, regardless of age, has to do with pleasure, it is entertaining, fun and a way to while away the time. They often play together with others, parents or friends, as a social activity that provides a sense of belonging. Scratch cards are often bought together with friends, or you go to amusement arcades together after school as a spare time activity (25, 26). parents who gamble In the UK it is common for the whole family to sit and watch the national lottery draw together at the weekend, and for many children and adolescents it is an important family activity (25, 26). Parents have an impact on their children’s gambling habits in many ways. Studies indicate that it is usually parents who have introduced their children to gambling and that children whose parents gamble start gambling at a younger age and gamble more later on in life compared to other children (21, 29). excitement Gambling is exciting to children and young people. The moment you scratch your lottery ticket or when the wheels on the fruit machine are turning is associated with immediate physiological excitement, which leads to a “tingling feeling” in your body (25, 26). competition Many young people, above all boys, say that the reason they gamble is that they want to control the game, be good at it or win over the machine. It also has to do with being a winner, showing your friends how good you are at the game. If you have lost money you prefer not to tell them, but if you win, well then that is something you happily tell them about (25). flight and fantasy Others gamble to put their minds on other things, to forget what things are like at home or how they feel. These children and adolescents prefer to play alone than with their friends and describe the gambling activity as repetitive behaviour that helps them block out reality and keep unpleasant thoughts at bay (25). Fantasy is another form of escapism, for example dreaming about the jackpot when you are bored, “being able to buy anything you want”. Unlimited access to money seems to be a dream scenario for many children and young people (26).
Page 1 and 2: Gambling Among Young People A Knowl
Page 3 and 4: © swedish national institute of pu
Page 5 and 6: 6. Prevention _____________________
Page 7 and 8: 6 Summary In 2001, the Swedish Nati
Page 9 and 10: 8 Background Adolescent Swedes gamb
Page 11 and 12: 10 Definitions what is meant by gam
Page 13 and 14: 12 types of games You can divide th
Page 15: 14 Introduction Most surveys on the
Page 19 and 20: 18 the possibility of winning Child
Page 22 and 23: 3. pathological gambling - the asse
Page 24 and 25: problem gambler since she believes
Page 26 and 27: who had scored 0 points was 54 per
Page 28 and 29: that first presented the tool, the
Page 30 and 31: 4. pathological gambling in young p
Page 32 and 33: included nine studies of in total 7
Page 34 and 35: • The game often leads to results
Page 36 and 37: however, tended to try to distract
Page 38 and 39: other addictions According to most
Page 40 and 41: 5. risk factors of pathological gam
Page 42 and 43: different types of problem behaviou
Page 44 and 45: Corresponding interview sessions we
Page 46: later in life. Adolescents happily
Page 49 and 50: 48 Introduction By prevention the a
Page 51 and 52: 50 others and where to turn to for
Page 53 and 54: 52 • For adults who are pathologi
Page 55 and 56: 54 Appendix Table 1. A list of the
Page 57 and 58: 56 23. Ide S, Lea SE. Gambling in y
Page 59 and 60: 58 73. Slutske WS, Jackson KM, Sher
Page 61 and 62: 60 122. Evans R. Some theoretical m

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