Youth Leaders in Problem Gambling Prevention Problem Gambling Prevention

While the legal gambling age is typically 18, many countries face issues of underage gambling. According to a 2024 report by the UKGC, 52% of young people have gambled at some point in their lives, although not necessarily for money. That’s why it’s essential to have strong online gambling education initiatives and programs. Check out our article to learn more about some of these projects and their effect. As far as possible, they should be implemented in one or more sessions, even with the addition of reinforcement/reminder sessions, and long-term follow-up of changes is required 43. It may be of interest to develop stepped programs that focus on teaching mathematical principles, and progressing from the simplest to the most complex so as not to overwhelm young people.

• Initially, 1449 articles were retrieved from the databases Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and ClinicalTrials.gov; in addition, 34 articles were identified from the citation search.
• Moreover, special attention must be given to the content of programs and the way in which they are implemented.
• Questions require thought, logic and creativity rather than an extensive knowledge base.
• Here is some information regarding youth gambling from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
• The CD-ROM contains a diversity of scholarly papers, journal articles and screening tools legal system professionals can quickly and easily access from their own computers.

Aside from teaching them about gambling, BigDeal also involves youths through the Young Adults Advisory Board. There, young people between 11 and 18 act as advisors, helping others through workshops or social media campaigns for Christmas. Denitsa Lyutskanova is the Head of Content at iGaming.com and a passionate advocate for Safer Gambling. With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, she has been with the company since 2011, working across 20+ markets.

The YMCA Youth Gambling Awareness Program is a free service offering educational prevention programs designed to raise awareness of youth gambling, healthy/active living and making informed decisions. Together with the Government of Ontario, the YMCA believes educational awareness programs are https://gameaviatorofficial.com/ essential to enhancing personal development and creating healthier communities. The Amazing Château (Level I) and Hooked City (Level II) are interactive games developed by the Centre and available on CD-ROM. Hooked City was designed to address the needs and interests of high school students. Released in November 2004, and distributed to every private and public, elementary and high school in Quebec, these games aim to reduce problem gambling among teenagers, and promote responsible gambling.

However, this proposal is still being debated, with some, like former YGAM CEO and founder Lee Willows, being against it, while GambleAware’s CEO Zoë Osmond is in favor. While this issue is still discussed, most charities are focused on the future, which includes addressing illegal gambling sites and continuing to raise awareness of youth gambling addiction. The project has helped GamCare prepare reports like the youth view on gambling advertising regulations.

Whether it’s completing a challenge, learning new skills, or contributing to their community, YHTP is packed with activities in a secure, identity-protected environment. To promote community awareness and involvement in issues related to youth gambling, we partner with various community organizations. We collaborate to plan and implement events, which are included at each of the YGAP sites. An accompanying manual is offered for counsellors who want to use the video as a more in-depth prevention tool. Many questions are included in order to stimulate discussion with participants, as well as information about youth gambling.

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Furthermore, four studies found that such improvements were maintained in the long term 46,51,54,60. Furthermore, the reviewed gambling prevention programs generally reported (84% of the studies that assessed these variables) good results with regard to a reduction in the frequency and severity of gambling 34,36,38,45,49,50,52,58,59,61,62. However, only five of them explored the maintenance of such improvements in the long term, as is the study by Neighbors et al. (2015) 58, finding that all intervention effects except reduced gambling problems remained at the 6-month follow-up. The outlook for gambling is continuously changing as a result of new technologies, new forms of gambling, social acceptance, and greater ease of access, which is cause for increasing concern. Youth gambling is an important public health problem that must be addressed; however, researchers and clinicians have yet to develop a set of best practices for the prevention of gambling.

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It is essential that programs are relevant to young people in terms of their application and content; in other words, using new technologies and appealing resources, with multimedia elements and examples, and taking into account the social aspect of gambling and families in the process. Finally, assessments should measure both reductions and the harm caused, as well as gambling behaviors. The first characteristic that can be appreciated is the age of participants. In the case of studies conducted in university settings, none applied a universal prevention strategy to protect both gamblers and nongamblers from the negative consequences of this activity, and only two studies applied selective prevention 34,35. In contrast, most of the studies that focused on high school students applied universal prevention strategies, mainly by raising awareness and correcting misperceptions and beliefs, followed by selective strategies; only one study applied an indicated strategy 36.

This systematic review was implemented in accordance with the standards of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines 31,32. The Youth Advisory Board was consulted three times on these reforms, allowing young people to provide insight on better protecting them from youth gambling addiction. Citizens in Northern Ireland have also expressed a desire for better laws, with Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan even claiming it’s out of date and that problem gambling affects entire communities.

What is more, all the studies involving university students were conducted in the United States and Canada. In the case of studies involving adolescents, while the settings of the earlier works were mostly the United States and Canada, studies began to be conducted in Europe in 2013, with a larger number of European studies in recent years. Finally, the number of studies conducted on Spanish samples is scarce 37,38,39, and the first was only published in 2020. Some of BigDeal’s initiatives included a campaign for university students in 2020, teaching them about problem gambling, highlighting the reasons it may occur, and educating them on how to get support. As of 2023, the online gambling education program has educated 100,000 youths and has trained 25,000 professionals, such as teachers, to ensure young people have an accessible gambling education network.

Initially, 1449 articles were retrieved from the databases Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and ClinicalTrials.gov; in addition, 34 articles were identified from the citation search. Once duplicates were removed, a total of 992 articles were identified and screened by three reviewers (P.C.-M., E.A., and M.H.). The full-text manuscripts for 64 studies were then sought for retrieval and assessed, of which 32 met the inclusion criteria (Figure 1).

Because the majority of children are introduced to gambling activities around the age of 10 or 11, it is important to start prevention work before this age. As a result, the elementary game is designed to target children as young as 8 or 9. All the programs included in this systematic review were implemented in an educational setting, which meant that their implementation had to adapt to the conditions of the facility and available classrooms. They combined digital and interactive resources with participative activities, such as group debates. An online program featured in only one study 52, and five programs were facilitated by teachers 44,50,55,56,65.

All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. In general, the number of sessions comprising the analyzed programs ranged between three and six, with a duration of approximately 70 min and containing different activities. There were exceptions, however, such as the study by Chóliz, Marcos, and Bueno (2021) 38, which consisted of two sessions.

Therefore, the need to broaden gambling prevention programs to other youth population groups remains unresolved. Most of the programs involved dynamic and interactive sessions (90.6%; the only ones that did not were those carried out with college students 42,45,58), and were held in school hours and at the actual educational facility. Their main aims were to raise awareness in young people of the consequences that gambling can have, correct possible biases, develop different skills, and encourage critical thought and self-control.

To assess the quality of the studies, we used the assessment tool developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one for controlled intervention studies and one for single-arm studies. This allowed the included studies, both controlled intervention studies and single-arm studies, to be evaluated for risk of bias. Youth gambling can affect students’ performance, mental health, and social behaviors. Find resources to help you stay informed and watch for signs like isolation, obsessive gaming, or talking about in-app purchases and winnings. Designed for middle, high school, and young adults, YHTP teaches how to spot and avoid gambling risks in life while earning cool awards like gift cards and museum passes.