Gambling and gambling is increasing among minors, sometimes with the “complicity” parents, who share it with the teenagers. This is the conclusion of a survey conducted by the Society for Mutual Aid and Psychological Action (SEDAP) among 5,000 young people aged 15 to 17, with the support of the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), published Thursday February 17. While scratch and draw games, sports betting, horse racing and poker are prohibited, more than a third of the young people questioned (34.8%) said they had played at least once in the year preceding the survey. regardless of their socio-cultural background.
Protecting the health of minors may well be presented as a public health priority, minors say they started playing at 13 years and 3 months on average, often with scratch cards purchased from tobacconists. The latter dominate (78.4%), ahead of draw games (48.4%). A large quarter of young people (28.3%) took part in sports betting, 17.7% in horse betting and almost as many in poker (17.1%), slot machines (17.7%) and other casino games also turning around 17%.
“Have the same excitement”
By relating these results to the entire age group, it appears that more than a quarter (27.3%) of minors played scratch cards, around one in six draw games (16.9 %) and one in ten of sports betting. The sales ban? Three quarters of them know her, without her being “really perceived as an obstacle”notes the survey: nine out of ten players go through a place of physical distribution, even if one in two (50.1%) also uses the Internet and online gambling has spread.
The concern is about “excessive” players playing various online games, both legal and illegal
More worrying, the proportion of “problematic” gamblers (moderate or high risk) is “strongly progressing”, rising from 11% in 2014 to 34.8% of young people today. The concern is about the players “excessive” (21.9%) practicing various online games, both legal and illegal (slot machines or online casino games, betting on e-Sport competitions, financial betting, poker). They are the ones playing “to recover”, sometimes by borrowing or selling property; or who bet more and more “to have the same excitement”.
Advertising and sponsored content through the Snapchat, Instagram or Twitch applications play a significant role, recognize the respondents, citing messages from major operators such as Winamax, Française des jeux, Betclic or PMU. Their systematic, sometimes aggressive campaigns are a motivation to play for a third of young players.
Psychoeducational prevention
It is in this context that the ANJ will soon publish its guidelines to regulate these practices. Its president, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, recalls that operators “must make parental control software available, reinforce information on the ban on minors, on all game and communication media, as well as their identity control devices”.
For his part, the director general of SEDAP considers that the investigation “stresses the urgency of developing psychoeducational prevention strategies based on evidence-based and validated programs”. For Emmanuel Benoit, who recommends regular soundings, “the emotional fragility of adolescence is a fertile ground for the establishment of vulnerability” and “the protection of minors must be a priority”. But the study reveals that 45.7% of young people play with their mother and 35.7% with their father. What if the parents themselves get involved?