Too many children are hooked on gambling. Why aren’t they protected? By Marc Etches, The Guardian November 22, 2018 at 6:27 pm Gambling is everywhere. It is on our TVs during football games, on our smartphones and computers, in video games and on our high streets. For adults, this can be a serious issue, particularly if you suffer from addiction, or are at risk of developing a problem – which is the case for more than 2 million people in Britain. As we know and must be vocal about, gambling addiction can lead people to taking their own lives. Children ‘bombarded’ with gambling adverts on I’m a Celebrity app Read more It is deeply concerning to learn that 55,000 11- to 16-year-olds are classified as problem gamblers – a number that has quadrupled in the past two years. Added to that, there are another 70,000 11- to 16-year-olds who are considered at risk of developing a problem. Compared to other potentially harmful activities, the rate of gambling in the past week among young people is higher than the rates of drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or taking illegal drugs. This underlines the need to treat gambling in Britain as a serious public health issue.
