The hidden nature of youth gambling
These days gambling is everywhere. It’s not just casinos and the pokies anymore – it’s the apps on our phones and the places we can log into online. It’s advertised on TV and in many of our public spaces.
This research report found that normalisation of gambling in Victoria and beyond has a huge human cost. Young people are between two and four times more likely than adults to be problem gamblers. Of the young people who gamble, between 4 and 8 per cent are estimated to have a serious problem.
The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation funded Anglicare Victoria to undertake a study in rural Victoria, to understand the reasons that young people develop serious gambling problems, and how it is understood and perceived by their friends and others who are not affected by gambling.
The study identifies the normalisation of gambling as a primary risk. Three sub-themes were identified:
- The interaction between normalisation and trauma-based experience
- The role of structure and individual choice
- The hidden nature of gambling
