Are Children Involved in Gambling in the UK?

Gambling below the age of 18 years is illegal in the UK. However, the new trend has shown that gambling activities among children in being groomed and practiced illegally. This is evident by recent reports that show a double increase in the number of gambling addiction among children since 2017. There has been a great contradiction between what should be done and what is actually happening.

Although the law is there, there are other gambling channels that give children chances to gamble like the arcades. Instead of having the number of problem gamblers rise among children and course serious side effects, it’s better to have a way of protecting children against harmful gambling practices which can make our nation proud of its gambling practices.

Legal Gambling for Children

Gambling is highly regulated in the UK due to the increasing rates of problem gamblers among children. The regulations which go beyond 18 years has also affected the 25 years old who are only legally allowed to gamble for a period of 7 years.

The appearance of the self-exclusion system GamStop helps with gambling addiction despite the fact that offshore non UK casinos still accept UK players according to the latest statistics. Unfortunately, these regulations are not effective enough as other types of casino games like the lottery and slots have no limit which makes it possible for anyone to join.

Family Arcades

The family arcades sometimes called the seaside casino is a well-designed casino meant for family amusement that includes children and adults who come to gamble away as much money as possible. In these casinos, we have different categories of casino which help to regulate different content among players. We usually have the Adult Gaming Centre which strictly does not allow children, the Licensed Family Entertainment Centre that is exclusively for families and no children are also allowed and finally, we have the Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centre which is free for all persons. The Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centre provides a chance for children to engage in gambling activities.

Category D Gaming Machines

The D Gaming Machine which is essentially found in most Unlicensed Family Entertainment Centre. This is one of the forms of gambling that the government through its authorities has allowed children to engage in gambling activities. Category D gaming machines have been licensed and permitted to offer gambling services to the minor. The D Gaming machine includes slot machines, the coin machine, and crane grabs all under one roof to suit your gaming needs. In these fabulous casino games, children have been highly tempted to play more due to the presence of chocolate as the prize for the winner. This encourages safe gambling among children as there is little addiction caused by the presence of cash that can be used to repay more games.

Loot Boxes

A recent survey has shown that there is an increased addiction among kids as a result of these gambling machines called the loot boxes. The boxes which lead to an alarming figure of problem gamblers among kids have been compared to the harm caused by other forms of gambling that are highly restricted. It is not a new thing to see children win prizes from gambling but what the government wants for the society are a safe and fair gaming practice and traditions.

Child Gambling Problem

The child gambling problem has been on the rise especially in the past two years. Almost 144000 children are problem gamblers across the UK according to the October 2019 report. This tells how the vulnerable group is not able to control their spending habits making them misuse the funds leaving accounts empty with nothing left for them to spend. Others go as far as overstaying on the machines making it hard for them to create time for more innovations and creative activities.

What about a Safe Gambling Future?

We as a country need safer gambling measures to protect the future of gambling. This is because of the alarming rates of problem gamblers identified like for instance, 1.7% of the children aged 11-16 are problem gamblers and 1.6% represent problem gamblers aged 11-13.

This tells about the great risk that will eventually result in future problem gambling trends. To restrict all these forms of gambling to children will be the safest action to take instead of partially allowing children at arcades.