In Tasmania, gamblers are getting younger and younger as more teenagers are betting their money on casino games and horseracing. Responsible gambling advocates are concerned that more young people are being tempted to gamble, as online technology is making it easier for them to visit online casino sites. Dr Janet Patford has been assigned to the study by the Tasmanian government.
She will be working with individuals aged 16 to 24, who have gambled at least once during the past six months. Special attention will be paid to individuals who have lost control of their gambling spending. The interest in youth gambled was sparked by a study which found that two-thirds of individuals aged 10 to 25 had gambled at least once in the previous twelve months.
More than half had played pokies, but scratch cards, lottery tickets and card games were actually the most common form of gambling among this age group. "The findings raise interesting questions as to why so many young people currently gamble and whether more will gamble in the future," Dr Patford said in an interview with The Mercury.
There are plenty of reasons why people choose to gamble, but researchers are unsure as to why young people have gravitated towards the activity in recent years. There is reason to believe that the advancement in digital technology has lured more young people into the gambling market.
Slots, poker and other casino games are readily available to teenagers in the digital world, and it is believed that these games are more tempting than those based in the offline gambling market. Dr Patford will get to the bottom of the issue. She wants to find out why young people gamble, which will hopefully provide some insight into how underage gambling can be discouraged and how young problem gamblers can be treated.
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