Kids as young as 10 caught in gambling haze, experts blame online games and betting ads during sport

Primary school children are being treated in hospital for the effects of gambling, with experts blaming online games and betting advertising during sport.

A nationwide survey of the parents of 1160 teenagers, conducted by Victoria’s Royal Children’s Hospital, found one in three are concerned about their child’s gambling.

And it turns out that while Australians rack up the world’s highest gambling losses, almost half of parents have never discussed the habit with their children.

Pediatrician and director of the hospital’s National Child Health Poll, Anthea Rhodes, said children are increasingly exposed to gambling far before they are old enough to legally place a bet.

“We do see children with addictive behaviours and conditions, and gambling is one of those,” Dr Rhodes said at Wednesday’s launch of the latest National Child Health Poll.

The youngsters are being treated for problems with sleep, concentration, emotional regulation and behaviour management.

“Anecdotally, certainly we see children as young as 10 or below who are exposed to gambling and gambling activities,” she said..

“A lot of that is through online gaming platforms.

“Increasingly there is a ‘gamification’ of activities which essentially means a platform where a child might be asked to pay either real money or token-type money within a game in exchange for an unknown outcome.”

Alliance for Gambling Reform chief Advocate Tim Costello is aware of children as young as 13 using their parent’s bank cards to gamble before the practice was banned.

He said the industry deliberately targets the next generation through their personal devices, highlighting major concerns about links between betting advertising and sport.

“I find it shocking that this is the first generation of parents that have ever had to explain to kids what a ‘multi’ is,” Mr Costello said.

“When (kids) start talking about the odds say, ‘actually, we enjoy sport without gambling, we love the game’.”

The survey revealed 45 per cent of parents have never spoken about gambling with their teenager and a quarter found it difficult to discuss the issue.

Almost 35 per cent of men found those conversations challenging, compared to 18 per cent of women.

It comes as the federal government mulls a crackdown on gambling advertisements and age restrictions for social media.

Dr Rhodes said there is no safe level of betting for children and likened the effect on their development to abusive substances like alcohol.

She said the human brain is still developing into a person’s 20s and anything that affects dopamine pathways like gambling can increase their risk of addiction later in life.

“The sorts of things that we see are mental health problems, difficulties with sleep, difficulties with learning and education, and difficulties with relationships,” she said.

“Similar to any other substance abuse or addiction.”

Dr Rhodes said the big red flag parents should watch out for is if money goes missing, children repeatedly asking for money and are borrowing from friends or family.

“Many children and young people don’t realise that betting is not a normal or essential part of sport because gambling has become so normalised,” she said.

It’s a topic front of mind for mother Cecelia Aull, who has a two-and-a-half-year-old girl and is expecting a son.

She has managed to keep her daughter away from phone games but is aware it’s not realistic to stop her children using digital platforms forever.

“It’s a really daunting conversation to have because it’s not necessarily one that parents have had to have before,” Ms Aull said.

“When I was a child, I wasn’t allowed into gambling institutions, but for my children, the gambling institutions come into them.”

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