Teenage gamers grow into adult gamblers.Photo: Shutterstock
Easy access to online gambling across time zones means Australians can 'always find something to gamble on', new research finds Experts have issued a warning after it was discovered that children have been training themselves to gamble.
ANU Associate Professor Aino Suomi said video games were now an “inherently social activity” and gamers were interacting with friends on social media while playing. The study, which surveyed 38 people about their online gambling habits, found that: Most people started using gambling features such as skins and loot boxes when they were teenagers.
Suomi said, “While most young people find gambling features annoying, many games essentially operate like slot machines and utilize randomized features that require real currency.'' Without it, players won't be able to move forward.”
Through games with loot boxes, such as Apex Legends, young players can use their parents' or caregivers' credit cards to purchase in-game credits, skins, and other add-ons, alone or with friends online. They had proven to be skilled at playing and making payments. Counterstrike, DOTA 2, Elder Scrolls Online, Rainbow Six Siege, and even FIFA 23/24 soccer games.
In-game “skins” (cosmetic add-ons that are often priced in the four digits due to limited supply) are often bought and sold by players for virtual currency, many of which are used in esports results of the match.
Last year, we analyzed the prevalence of skins, loot boxes, and other gambling-like features and found that nearly 70% of games in Apple and Google's app stores included them.
Gambling behavior often began during video games, but peer pressure, ease of mobile gambling, such as watching professional gamers gamble on live streams or esports competitions, Access, highly effective online advertising, and even mobile gambling within schools have normalized gambling. It made young Australians addicted to gambling.
Once normalized, such activities proved to be the gateway to online gambling for adults. Sports betting on NRL and AFL matches, horse racing, English Premier League soccer and more has provided social gamblers with countless options and excitement.
“Similar to video games, sports betting is viewed as a social activity done during a night out with friends,” Suomi said.
“People who were more victimized by gambling reported that they could always find something to gamble on.”
The proliferation of gambling advertising has not helped, with calls for a ban on online gambling advertising continuing, with Australian teenagers “flooding” to sites such as YouTube, a report has found.
An ACMA report last year found that gambling advertisers spent more than $238 million in the 12 months to April 2023 running more than 1 million TV, online and radio gambling ads. It turned out that
A nut that is difficult to crack
Regulating gambling in the world's largest per capita gambling market remains difficult, with a recent University of Melbourne study finding that despite governments moving to introduce reforms, including legislation, many offshore gambling operators remain They were found to be flouting Australian laws and promoting gambling sites to young people on social media. Prohibition of the use of credit cards for gambling. Restrictions on the use of payday loans for gambling. Speeding up identity and age verification. Option to pre-set gambling limits; more.
A parliamentary committee last year recommended that online gambling advertising be banned and that the industry be managed through a “public health lens.”
But while these measures target gambling for those 18 and older, the crackdown on video game gambling will go even further, as loot boxes, skins, and other real-money features are exempt from real-world gambling regulations. It's proving difficult.
The decision to update video game classification to designate games containing loot boxes as R18+ was pushed through late last year, but will have little effect until new regulations come into effect in late September.
