Seoul police, ‘Survey on Youth Gambling Status’
[헤럴드경제=김아린 기자] A survey showed that among teenagers who have gambled, 7 out of 10 are male, and manny of them started gambling in their upper grades of elementary school.Most of them experienced gambling for the first time at the recommendation of a friend, and most of them financed it with pocket money.
On the 28th,the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced the results of the ‘2025 Youth Gambling Survey’ conducted on 34,779 youth in Seoul.
According to the survey, 502 of the 718 teenagers who responded that they had gambled were male, which was higher than female. The age at which people started gambling was also found to be younger, with the majority of respondents in the 5th grade of elementary school compared to the previous year’s survey, where the majority of respondents said they started gambling in middle school.Most of the gambling experienced by teenagers was online gambling (76%). By type of online gambling, ‘e-sports/in-game betting’ was the most common at 25%, followed by ‘real-time gaming’ (22%), ‘illegal casinos such as baccarat’ (21%), and ‘illegal sports toto’ (7%).
The most common reason for starting gambling (40%) was that they were introduced to it by a friend or peer. 18% of respondents said they started after watching streaming broadcasts or social media advertisements.
76% of teenagers who have gambled said they used their pocket money to fund gambling, and 8% said they used their parents/family cards. 4% and 3% of respondents said they raised money for gambling through small payments on their mobile phones or through part-time work, respectively. About 2% of respondents said they used illegal methods such as school violence or extorting money from others, confirming the tendency for youth gambling to lead to secondary crimes.
The proportion of respondents who responded that they had borrowed money or had debt due to gambling was 13%. Among them, there were youths who said they gambled to repay their debts or repaid them in illegal ways, such as buying used goods.
It was found that adolescents who have experienced gambling suffer from emotional problems such as depression and anxiety, poor academic performance, and conflicts with their families. 40% responded that they wanted to stop gambling, and 90% agreed that ‘gambling is perilous for teenagers.’
Based on the results of these investigations, the police will cooperate with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to operate the period from February to April as an ‘intensive youth gambling prevention and management period.’ We plan to strengthen crackdowns on illegal gambling sites in conjunction with related organizations such as the Broadcasting Media and Communications Standards Commission.
Seoul Metropolitan Police agency Commissioner Park Jeong-bo said, “To ensure that youth are safe from gambling, we will strictly crack down on illegal gambling suppliers and together promote prevention and healing activities for youth.”
arin@heraldcorp.com