Children Raised to Gamble

If you ask most people where gambling begins, they’ll likely say around the age of 18. That’s the legal age to place a bet, walk into a betting shop or open an online casino account. However, in today’s entertainment centric society that reality is being challenged as gambling exposure and tendencies are introduced to younger and younger audiences. Not with money. With rewards.

The younger amongst you will likely relate to watching youtubers and playing video games, with your parent urging you to go outside and build a fort in the rain like ‘back in their day’. Looking back on those hours wasted you might wish that you’d listened, or perhaps at least spent your time more wisely, regardless – present circumstances for youth might prove even more uncomfortable.

From spending money on virtual currency to gamble on FIFA packs, to buying loot boxes and watching streamers celebrate rare pulls after spending extortionate amounts of money searching for a clickbait thumbnail, it is hard to argue that children aren’t becoming increasingly exposed to gambling tendencies.

The mechanics are familiar:
You pay.
You wait.
Lights flash.
Music builds.
Something exciting might happen.
Sometimes it does.
Most of the time it doesn’t.

That uncertainty is exactly what makes these systems so compelling as the anticipation becomes part of the reward. Long before someone is legally allowed to gamble, they’re often becoming comfortable with the psychological patterns that gambling relies on.

It doesn’t stop with video games. Children and teenagers are also surrounded by gambling advertising long before they turn 18. Simply think back to the last sports game you watched. Shirts plastered in betting sponsors and half-time adverts promoting boosted odds and free bets under the guise of free money. For many young fans, gambling isn’t presented as a dangerous product. Instead, an opportunity - for you to prove you’re a true fan and know something about the sport nobody else does. That you don’t have to study and work hard as you can be paid to watch the sport you love and be revered among friends. That you can be the exception to the rule.

Coupled with the industry’s predatory marketing campaigns across social media who’s algorithms are coded to hunt vulnerability, gambling tendencies in youth are increasingly prevalent. By the time someone reaches their eighteenth birthday, the legal barrier disappears almost overnight. The apps are easy to download and free bets are everywhere. For someone who’s spent years opening packs, chasing rare rewards and watching gambling become part of everyday entertainment, placing that first bet doesn’t feel like entering a new world. It feels familiar, like something they’ve been working towards for years.

Helping people regain control starts with understanding how these habits develop in the first place. If we want future generations to make informed choices about gambling, we need to recognise that education doesn’t begin at eighteen.

It begins the first time a child is taught that excitement, anticipation and reward can be bought with the click of a button.