Boy, 13, gambled away €92k on parents’ cards Teen used smartphone to rack up huge debt on betting websites
A TEENAGE boy gambled away £80,000 (€91,500) of his parents’ money after using their company’s credit card to fuel his smartphone gambling addiction.
The 13-year-old from Lancashire in England left his parents in severe financial diffi- culty after working up massive debts betting on horses and sports fixtures.
The boy began going on gambling sites after seeing them being advertised at a soccer match he attended with his father.
The teenager, who remains anonymous, became hooked on gambling and took a photograph of his parents’ credit cards on his phone. Within days, he was betting hundreds of times a week under the account registered to his father.
In a story that highlights the perils of both gambling and the easy access to inappropriate sites for children with smartphones, he told the Sunday People newspaper that he did not realise that he could develop an addiction to gambling.
‘I had no idea that gambling could be an addiction like smoking, drinking or drugs’, he said. ‘It seemed like fun and I thought I would make money too.’
As his losses began to stack up, he betted more in an effort to repay his debt.
By the time his father got a call from his bank about the transactions, his son had already worked up a bill of more £20,000 (€23,000) through placing bets online.
His parents sent him for counselling and believed their son had been cured of his affliction.
However, months later he went on a betting binge which saw him work up further losses of £60,000 (€68,500) in just one week.
In order to pay the debt, his parents had to take out loans which have put them under severe financial pressure. At one point his parents believed that they would lose their business as a result of their son’s addiction.
His father even had to let employees go from the business without telling them the true reason for the layoffs.
The teenager and his parents decided to share his story to highlight the issue in the hope that another family will not suffer the same fate.
A report published late last year showed that 25,000 British children between 11 and 16 are addicted to gambling.
The subject of children owning smartphones has been kept in the spotlight thanks to the Irish Daily Mail’s Protect Our Kids Online campaign, which has continued to highlight the dangers of smartphone use for schoolchildren.
The Mail has previously highlighted the considerable support among teachers and principals for the introduction of legislation to ban smartphones in schools.
This newspaper also strongly backed a digital age of consent of 16, opposing the Government’s plans for a consent age of 13.
The Dáil agreed, and last month voted for the older consent age. It means that gambling companies and other marketers cannot target anyone under the age of 16.
The defeat for the Government means that social media giants such as Facebook and Snapchat may have to take measures to acquire parental consent for users they know are between 13 and 16 years of age.
Comment – Page 12 jane.fallon.griffin@dailymail.ie