How a video game for Xmas can turn child into gambling addict
VIDEO games lure children into destructive gambling habits and parents should not give them as Christmas presents, experts have warned.
Popular games have ‘normalised’ betting among teenagers, a major report by the Royal Society of Public Health found.
It said the gaming industry ‘operates unchecked and unregulated on the back alleys of the internet’.
Some 40 per cent of those aged 11 to 24 spend real money ‘gambling’ on virtual items in games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, a study found.
Youngsters often use their parents’ credit cards to buy ‘skins’ – new clothes for characters – or ‘loot boxes’ – mystery chests containing unknown prizes. However, the player has to keep buying them until they get the prize they want, like a gambler having repeated goes on roulette.
For example, children playing the FIFA football game can spend money on a mystery ‘loot box’ pack of players, in the hope it may contain a superstar such as Lionel Messi. It means children can spend hundreds of pounds to keep up with their friends.
The study of 1,100 youngsters, funded by GambleAware, found that 93 per cent regularly play video games and 91 per cent said loot boxes were available in the games they play. One in four 11- to 14-yearolds had bought a loot box the week before they were surveyed.
The report blamed video games and the sports industry for a surge in the number of children who are gambling addicts, which has led to an epidemic of mental health problems. There are 55,000 child betting addicts in the UK, quadruple the number in 2016, and the NHS has had to open a specialist clinic to deal with the crisis.
Last night campaigners warned parents to think twice before buying video games for Christmas.
Liz Ritchie of charity Gambling With Lives – set up by parents bereaved by gambling-related suicide – said: ‘The normalisation effect of gambling elements in video games can pull vulnerable youngsters into gambling addiction which can have a devastating effect on mental health and can lead to suicide.
‘A six-year-old knows that smoking kills but how many people know that gambling kills?’
The Daily Mail’s Stop the Gambling Predators campaign has called for greater protection from gambling firms. A loophole means betting in video games is not legally classed as gambling, thus escaping Gambling Commission regulations.
A Government spokesman said: ‘ We have introduced a wave of tougher measures, including tighter age verification checks, stricter rules around the targeting of adverts, and specialist support for young people. We take concerns around loot boxes in video games very seriously.’