More European teenagers may be gambling even as fewer are drinking, smoking and doing drugs, and there appears to be a growing problem of 11-year-olds running wild in UK casinos.
The latest European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) queried nearly 100k students aged 15-16 years old in 35 countries — but not the UK — regarding their indulgence last year in a variety of vices, such as alcohol, drugs and other potentially addictive behaviors, including gambling.
Overall, the report found slow but steady declines in smoking, drinking (particularly binge drinking) and illicit drug use, but around 22% of students gambled in some form in 2019, up from 14% in 2015. That said, the authors note that changes in the phrasing of gambling-related questions make for difficult comparisons with the previous survey.
Lotteries remain the dominant form of teen gambling at 49% participation, followed by sports or race betting (45%), cards or dice (44%) and slot machines (21%). A much smaller number (7.9%) reported having gambled online last year.
There was wide geographical variation in gambling prevalence, with countries such as Cyprus (33%), Greece (33%), Montenegro (32%) and Finland (30%) at the upper end of the spectrum, while the lowest scores were found in Georgia (13%), Denmark (12%) and Kosovo (11%).
Despite its low overall score, Kosovo (16%) tied with Cyprus in terms of online gambling prevalence, while Bulgaria and Serbia tied at 11%. Online gambling participation was lowest in Germany (3.1%), Malta (3.8%) and Iceland (4.1%).
Around 3.8% of all students were considered ‘excessive’ gamblers, while 1.4% qualified for the more serious tag of ‘problem’ gambling. Among students who actually gambled, the excessive score was 15% while 5% were deemed problematic. Boys scored significantly higher than girls in both categories.
It’s perhaps worth noting that surveys focused on insecure youths can be subject to a certain degree of ego-driven inflation when it comes to admitting participation in a taboo activity.
For instance, the UK Gambling Commission’s most recent Young People & Gambling survey found 2% of 11-year-olds admitted ‘personally visiting a casino to play casino games (e.g. by this we mean a proper casino with roulette tables).’ Another 3% of 11-year-olds confessed to having personally placed a bet at a betting shop.
While such claims may be catnip to the usual UK media suspects, they beggar belief. Who exactly is working the doors at these casinos that they don’t notice a kid riding on another kid’s shoulders, dressed in a single oversized trench coat with a fedora pulled low over the upper kid’s eyes? ‘Welcome back, sir…’
Such outlandish claims call into question the legitimacy of the other data on offer. That doesn’t mean one should disregard such surveys entirely, but one should approach the more outlandish findings with a healthy degree of skepticism.
