Parents urged to look for signs of gambling among children
Published:Friday | June 3, 2022 | 12:08 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
With underage gambling putting children at increased risk for substance use and abuse and poor academic performance, parents are being urged to look out for indicators such as gambling paraphernalia, significant sums of money unaccounted for, selling of personal belongings, or consistently borrowing money without repaying it among minors.
Richard Henry, programme manager of addiction counselling & support services at RISE Life Management, is recommending that parents start having conversations with their non-gambling children as early as 10 years old, citing the fact that youths now live in an era where legal gambling has become socially acceptable.
“A lot of young people think that gambling does not include something of value. They believed that gambling had to include money and that is not true,” he noted during Wednesday’s second session of a three-part series themed ‘Underage Gambling A Fi Wi Business Fi True’.
The workshop was hosted by the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) in partnership with the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission (BGLC) and RISE Life Management Services to facilitate discussion on the ways in which parents could work together in addressing the issue of underage gaming.
Henry noted that in some schools, students gambled items of clothing, lunch and anything else seen as valuable to the other party, and revealed that the most common underage gambling activities seen in schools were playing dice, cards, games of chance, bingo and online gambling.
He added that there has been an increased interest in sports betting with minors requesting their older friends to buy tickets for them.
A 2007 study RISE Life Management study, which was funded by BGLC, found that one in every five adolescents in Jamaica was either a problem gambler or at risk of becoming one.
A total of 1,559 males and 740 females between the ages of 10 and 19 were recruited from across the island for the study. Males were seen to and continue to be the more susceptible to gambling, he said.
“So much has happened and evolved in terms of gambling ... . You can see that now, our industry has evolved greatly in terms of even on the media, advertising, etcetera. Gambling has really come a far way and is really in the face of young people and so their ability to make decisions about gambling have a need to be bolstered,” Henry said, adding that RISE Life Management is hoping to conduct another study within the year.
Sixty-eight per cent of youth in the 2007 study were reported to be exposed to gambling for which the legal age is 18 years.
“We can’t continue to operate in the same manner. We have to now bring in the reinforcements,” Henry said, noting that the issue has to be tackled at the family, school and community levels as gambling disorders can affect an individual’s social, family and occupational life while also affecting one’s psychological and physical health.
Family tradition
He also indicated that gambling is sometimes seen as a family tradition in some homes and as a result, he urged families with a history of gambling to pay attention to how the practice could potentially affect children in that family.
Jeanette Lewis, corporate affairs and communications manager at the BGLC, noted that the agency’s mission is to enable a viable and reputable gambling industry and engender a culture of responsible gambling to ensure that it is offered in a safe and socially responsible environment, where potential harm is minimised.
“Children are among the most vulnerable in our population, and together, we must ensure that they do not fall victim to gambling harm,” she said.
As a result, the BGLC is urging parents, mentors, and caregivers to educate children on the risks and harms of engaging in the activity prematurely.
She also encouraged them to provide the necessary support if minors do become victims of underage gambling.
For help, the RISE Life Management Services can be contacted through a 24-hour phone service at 876-967-3777 or toll free at 1-888-991-4146.
To report illegal gambling, contact the police through Crime Stop Jamaica at 311.