Zona de Azar Argentina – Argentina: Gambling and Children, NO!
Argentina.- July 01, 2024 www.zonadeazar.com The topic of online gambling and betting is a recurring theme in parents’ chats and is an almost daily concern. Childhood gambling addiction is a growing phenomenon. Shedding light on this reality can be uncomfortable, but I think it is urgent to propose, if not all, at least some solutions. We cannot look the other way, as if nothing is happening. At least that is not my way of facing and solving problems.
We all agree on one thing: it is not okay for kids to gamble. Because? Because they are not mature, because they are in the process of growth and are very impressionable. Instead of more freedom, it creates a dependency that, far from providing them with emotional well-being, rather unbalances them, potentially causing low self-esteem, attention and sleep deficits, and poor school or sports performance.
As happened at other times with alcohol or tobacco, two clearly harmful consumptions for health, it is essential to understand that childhood gambling addiction is an emerging form of consumption that is no less harmful: digital. Although it is not a substance that enters the body, it silently weakens the personality. The drama of this potential addiction is that “you can’t see it, you can’t smell it.” Like many parents who have children, I waited for my children to come home and watched them arrive or went to pick them up, and one “looks and smells.” That gave me a reference of how they were. Digital, on the other hand, is intangible, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the reality is, without exaggeration, that children today have access to a “casino in their pocket.”
On the other hand, two other factors must be taken into account: one, the addiction generated by prolonged exposure to the screen (what experts call techno-addiction) and, two, advertising, which deceptively tends to resort to a euphemism to covertly confuse gambling with betting. There is nothing wrong with a child playing; what is wrong, I insist, is that he bets.
We have been working for some time with NGO representatives and specialists in the prevention and treatment of gambling addiction. At this interdisciplinary meeting we agreed on the need to move forward with some specific actions, focusing on three axes: education, awareness and prevention of this problem, the limitation of legal gambling and the control of illegal gambling.
Before referring to the control and limitation measures that we have begun to implement, I would like to first emphasize prevention. It is a task that begins fundamentally at home, with the commitment of each family. It may be a difficult subject to address, but we have to talk about the dangers that are hidden behind something that is not simply a game. We then reinforce this message with the Prevention Workshops in all Schools and the Prevention Network in Clubs where, through sport, coaches and teachers can detect in time and guide children in the help they may need. In this sense, and so that the approach is comprehensive, we are going to open a specialized group facility at the Alvarez Hospital, to care for minors with a possible diagnosis of gambling addiction, and another to care for families.
This complex problem requires responsible citizens, who get involved through positive prevention messages and campaigns , instead of encouraging consumption. The latter is done, knowingly or not, by some influencers and public figures who promote illegal gambling or betting platforms. For this reason, we have already sent a dozen letters urging them to desist from making these types of publications on their social networks.
Regarding limitation measures, this week, together with LOTBA, we closed registration and registration for online gaming operators. There is no longer the possibility of adding any new licenses because we changed the criteria with which they were granted until now in the City. We are also going to audit the 11 operators that are currently active and regulated, so that they strictly comply with all operating requirements, such as having a registration process that allows the age of bettors to be verified and prohibits the entry of minors, having tools such as self-exclusion, the establishment of self-limits of time, deposit and/or losses, alerts and limitations on economic transactions and on advertising. In addition, we have already blocked access to all online betting sites (ending in .bet) from the public school internet network and the BA Wifi network that is used free of charge in public spaces in the City. .
But this is not enough because, in addition to the limitations on legal gambling , control must be strongly focused on illegal gambling. Like any crime, we pursue and combat it with all the tools at our disposal. Thus, the Cybercrime Division of the City Police and the LOTBA audit itself are working together to detect and block .com sites, which is where illegality operates.
There is and cannot be gray. Bets aimed at minors are illegal. With this conviction we are also unifying several Projects presented in the Legislature to have our own legal and regulatory framework, according to the problem. For its part, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has committed to assigning and specializing a Prosecutor’s Office to address this particular issue.
Childhood gambling addiction presents us with warnings and new challenges that force us to review the answers we thought we had. Access to technology has horizons of almost infinite possibilities, but in addition to guaranteeing it, we have to direct it towards the socio-emotional and comprehensive development of our children and adolescents. We have a lot to do, each one from their place. Today we can already start to do something: talk about the subject at home, install it and discuss it as a family. If we don’t talk, the battle is lost. But if we put it on the table, we begin to win.
Editó : @_fonta www.zonadeazar.com
