Since the introduction of the Gambling Act 2005 in the UK, there have been raised concerns over children gambling online. Children are some of the biggest users of the Internet and it is inevitable that some may be attracted to gambling online.
Games, fun, bright lights and money will attract children into the world of gambling online. What can the industry to help prevent this becoming a wide spread problem?
To get a license to run an online casino you must provide age verification software. However kids have always been smart at getting hold of fake ID’s, can the industry guarantee that this won’t work? Also there are many offshore-unlicensed casinos that encourage gambling online to vulnerable people like children.
Recently it has been announced that several football teams will have the logos of online casinos on their shirts. The temptation to follow suit from young football fans that idolize premiership football stars is a great danger. Sports advertising are an endorsement and it is a very controversial issue.
Online gambling in children should be controlled by better education and increased leisure activities. It is very easy to blame the casino industry alone for an increase in gambling online in children. However some responsibility must fall on the shoulders of parents, the government and schools. If children were occupied there would be far less problems with drugs, alcohol, crime, violence and gambling online. Children should not be expected to entertain themselves and them feeling that there is a lack of leisure activities available should not mean that gambling online as a whole should not exist, it means that children should be better taken care of by those in charge of them.
The government and the gambling industry is taking great steps to combat the issue of children and gambling online, however society as a whole must take responsibility for the future of the UK’s youth.