Classrooms Consumed by Gambling: 58% Start for Fun, Short-Form Games Fuel Addiction

More than half of the teenagers who have engaged in gambling did not do so to earn money, but rather accessed gambling sites simply for fun, according to recent findings.

Teenagers are increasingly perceiving cyber gambling not as a crime, but as a form of mobile gaming. Illegal video streaming (OTT) services, illegal webtoon sites, and social media platforms such as Discord and Instagram have become primary gateways where advertisements for illegal gambling sites are embedded.

According to a survey on youth gambling conducted last year by the Korea Center on Gambling Problems and Healing, which polled 13,000 students from fourth grade of elementary school to third grade of high school, 58.5% of teenagers who had experienced gambling cited "thinking it would be fun" as their reason for starting.

"To play with friends" was also a significant response, accounting for 32.5%.

In contrast, "earning pocket money," which is often assumed to be the main purpose of gambling, was cited by only 19.8%.

Cyber gambling lures teenagers by thoroughly disguising itself as a game.

The rules are simple, and the time it takes to see a result is extremely short.

It is a structure that allows teenagers, who are accustomed to short-form content, to easily become immersed through the immediate release of dopamine.

Common examples include odd-even games, ladder games, Powerball, and slot machines.

In the survey, casino games (35.8%) and mini-games (29.8%) ranked first and second as the most common types of youth gambling.

A 17-year-old student, identified by the surname Kim, who quit gambling after starting in middle school, said in an interview, "Baccarat is easy to play, and it takes less than a minute to finish one round, which is why I started. These days, many friends lose money, and they keep gambling because they feel it is a waste to lose what they have."

In reality, teenagers who happen to win money when they first access these sites and get a taste of the "fun" begin to place larger bets to recover their losses once they start losing.

However, because illegal gambling sites use systems with manipulated odds, it is impossible to win in the end.

Consequently, teenagers end up buried in debt.

Experts point out that to break the cycle of gambling addiction, it is necessary to cut off teenagers' access to gambling at the source and to substantially reform formal prevention education.

Cho Ho-yeon, head of the organization "School Without Gambling," emphasized in an interview, "Blocking gambling sites is ineffective because they can be bypassed in an instant. We must first block the 'daepo' (borrowed-name) bank accounts that lure teenagers into illegal gambling."

Cho also stressed the importance of improving students' awareness and enhancing the initial response capabilities of teachers and police.

"Teenagers do not even recognize gambling as a crime," he noted. "Even when schools or police catch youth gambling, there is not even a proper manual for counseling and response."

There is also criticism that the prevention videos unilaterally played in schools can have the side effect of stimulating curiosity.

In a research report published last May, the National Youth Policy Institute stated, "Current education mostly consists of students listening to lectures via broadcast or gathering to watch videos by grade level. Given digital accessibility, there are limitations to such formal prevention education."

The institute suggested personalized content using artificial intelligence (AI) systems as an alternative.

The idea is that the diverse experiences of individual teenagers must be taken into account.

They also suggested that it is necessary to revitalize extracurricular arts and sports programs to divert teenagers' attention.

Kim Jung-tae, a professor at the School of Game at Dongyang University, emphasized, "There is a lot of malicious and speculative content that makes it easy for teenagers to approach gambling under the guise of gaming. The government needs to strictly crack down by clearly distinguishing between gambling and gaming."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.