Young people increasingly engaging in online gaming and sports betting, with the average age range of 18-34 participating in gambling activities 11 times per month and 39% using winnings to gamble again, according to research released by InfoQuest, prompting discussion on risks with the National Gambling Board during Responsible Gambling Month.
welcome back now young increasingly people are engaging in gambling activities with online and gaming sports betting being two of the most popular gambling activities among the ages between and eighteen thirty four years old now according to this is the findings released by info quest which is a leading south african online research company the research also found that young people approached a participate in gambling activities at average of an eleven times per month with nine percent thirty using their winnings to gamble again so to talk to us about involved the risks with young people engaging in excessive gambling as south africa marks responsible gambling month are joined virtually we by claire harith who is from info quest managing director there and also have we ngwathe masha maite whose chief officer compliance at the national gambling board cele ngwathe and thanks so much to both for joining us of you this morning and morning welcome to live so let's just start with you ngwathe when is gambling considered an addiction when we're looking especially at young people talk to the addiction let's just aspect briefly of it very ja gambling is actually supposed an entertainment to be activity but ja when the minute one actually believes that they need an to make income out of gambling read then there are flats there are instances where a person would actually have to engage multiple forms of gambling casinos betting at a go and even engage on illegal activities then those flags for are red us to actually see that person is this actually engaged in an indicative level of gambling often these people will borrow to go money and gamble they will still will not they tell the truth about their with engagement gambling activities at home more and they are aggressive when they are spoken their to with family members especially in relation to gambling very defensive not telling the truth exemption about the engagement and sounds pretty much like any other addiction whether addiction you know it be an to substances it sounds pretty same ngwathe much the so how easily accessible is gambling online to young people especially age those under the of eighteen is it has become very accessible because we have a huge traffic of illegal gambling activities offered from offshore countries mostly those islands chryso and others they actually offer this activity illegally in the country a result and as there are no age restriction checks for people who are participating in their activities because they don't even need to of the regulations follow any in the country but has also it been more exposed with their activities building being permitted to offer gambia betting activities through online mode and this is exactly also where the participation of the young people actually seen is to be in the increase because betting offer bets on activities like sports and as a result the young people are more interested in those activities but we've also a seen number of our licensed operators actually offering what they term as building on casino but games we find that actually these are just the casino games and in south africa activities those are not yet permitted only betting on online is the only way that is permitted in south africa but in terms games of casino that is not yet permitted but licensed our operators are offering casino games and that actually exposes our young people when engaged they are in sports betting to also activities extend their longer with the casino games offered that are and ja so as a result spend more time they gambling and the possibilities being addicted of are very much in the interest and this is clear where your research proves invaluable just in looking at the impact of the availability of young people to access of these some forms of gambling like the gaming online and other things and just us about your talk to survey and its findings claire please well it was quite an interesting and and i do one of agree with a lot what ntate has also mentioned that people young are more at risk because they enjoy the the aspect of risk involved with gambling it's it's fun they think don't realise it's fun they how much money they can lose and our findings have also shown that do lose they more than they win so it's it's quite it's a concerning element that looking at because we're a lot of them also are trying to make ends meet they're trying to earn more they're they're trying some money to make they think that it will improve their families lives and they think lucky they'll get and a lot of the time that's that's not the case so we've also found that online gambling is a lot more to access easy you're anonymous end of you're on the other a platform that nobody knows exactly how old you are so we're also that concerned there might be underage people accessing these platforms because although you have to put in an id number they can put in parents their numbers eye disease or or other aspects so i think that's a concern also marketing in there's such such sophisticated marketing that targets the youth and algorithms that can target and they them get drawn into it very they're not easily as they're more naive old two people than than so they do get into it drawn which is can be problematic and the activities that they are involved also with we found that there there there's the time they they the accessing on average these platforms gambling eleven times a month which is quite is quite a lot when you consider that a lot of them probably don't have finances the to to to manage and and they are losing that but but you mentioned interesting something and important claire the fact that you know young people see this potentially as a way to generate income because we know high the how unemployment statistics are for young people so you know to that end actually were they willing to divulge any more information some of them actually are seeing this as know the you only way for them an income to generate unfortunately a unemployed lot of them are so this was try a way to to and get some additional money their to help households or to help them so it is very concerning and we bit more we went a in depth we asked people a few separately who said they had lost money how much they had lost and of them said they a lot were in we debt so we went to three hundred of three hundred a sample younger people with the survey and of that i would say contacted that we probably ten percent and most of who said they were those had lost money were in debt and and and that's really worrying might i ask claire before i get back to onkgopotse was there a particular gambling form of that they preferred the young people that you two yes definitely we found that they they do prefer the sports betting so there's there gaming the the the gaming platforms were were very exciting for them they could easily get get involved with that so online gaming was the the the top the top one sports betting was there was a sixty seven percent of our sample who are involved sports betting with so when you consider that that's the eighteen to thirty-four age group say we would that sports betting as also said that their soccer sports betting was appealing to more than the mail sample but and the gaming whereas the lottery was was more the female sample were involved with and online slot machines so those were there's quite a cross but the top section one was definitely online gaming very interesting coetzee we're out i have to quickly of time but ask you do you think that south africa's gambling regulations should amended as be we now see more young participating people in the online gaming and sports but betting also you know as claire of them said many finding themselves not just addicted but in debt as a result of this think there i regulations in terms to of actually trying deal with the participation we are actually trying to to to to regulate that properly we do need to reinforce our education awareness which and the national gambling board is dissipating in on a monthly basis to educate people our that gambling is not an income generating activity but is an activity that you for entertainment do you actually need plan how much you to spend in gambling and you need to how long spend gambling as well we do have so that problem and we think that we if we can manage those then we we we will actually succeed we concerned are with the advertising it is actually enticing more to our people to to actually that they can make think manner more money in the that it is presented and the responsible gambling messages don't appear that enough to actually show our people that they responsible need to be as well and of course needs to our government come on board and realise we that need to actually regulate online gambling activities so that our people can engage in legalised form a where our people can actually be monitored that they are actually gambling while are of the right they age in terms the information of they need to submit before they can participate in gambling and we we think if can allow this online gambling in terms of the legislation our people will actually able to participate be responsibly because you are not responsible if you participate while the age you are under of eighteen well thank you so much claire harith from info quest managing there director and ngwathe masha maite whose chief compliance officer at the national gambling board us talking to about the risks involved with young engaging people in excessive gambling as we mark national gambling awareness this week so this month it's all of in fact so about it we'll talk more but that's where we take a quick break need to before we say goodbye