Tuesday, July 27, 2004

That nasty evil internet makes kids gamble

'Kids are gambling... quick, blame the web!'

I've sat here all day taking deep breaths and trying to not be too cynical with the *shock horror gasp* news that a company - who are trying to sell their own 'age' services to gaming companies - commissioned a piece of research that discovered that *shock horror gasp* underage kids were able to register with online gambling companies.

Thankfully there are still some journalists out there willing to look at the bigger picture and not to go shouting off the top of the tallest buidling that the internet is the root of all evil

Cynicism aside, I'm not condoning this - I accept its going to happen and I know that UK gambling companies are doing their best to try and avoid this. And no, they're not necessarily doing as much as they possibly can. The same way underage kids can buy cigarettes, buy drugs, see an 18-rated movie or get into nightclubs. If kids want to do these things, they will. Internet gambling is just another 'forbidden' territory that "some" kids may want to try out.

The research itself was up for much questioning, but thats another story. Personally, I agree with the underlying study - its all too easy for anyone to register at an online gambling company. To place a bet however, is something different and there are checks in place to try and avoid underage gamblers. Not enough probably. There never is.

Secondly, the bookies are not the only ones to blame here. Solo debit cards are given to kids as young as 11. It would take the bank a simple change in the way they set up their cards to identify an under 18 card-holder. This would help online stores immensely. The whole issue with 'underage' commerce affects a multitude of online sins - most seriously, hardcore porn.

At the end of the day - the bookies and casinos, along with the banks, need to do something to stop this. Thats a given. But there is a deeper issue here and its not necessarily about the 'blame game' - with the internet being the nearest and dearest platform to blame

Blog Reading
Call To Block Children Gambling Online

More Reading:
- Gambling websites 'let punters as young as 11 set up accounts'
- Call to block child gambling online
- Schoolgirl tests online gambling [note: the schoolgirl is the daughter of the man who did this piece of research. He allowed his daughter to fake her identity and surf all these gambling sites]

posted by jo @ 8:39 PM   0 comments

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