Over a quarter of Irish 16-year-olds gambling for money

Boys were found to exhibit different gambling behaviours than girls, and they had much higher odds of excessive gambling, the report found. Picture: John Stillwell/PA

More than a quarter of Irish 16-year-old boys are gambling for money and many of them are struggling to control it, feel they need to bet more money or are lying about how much they are gambling.

That is according to a survey of almost 2,000 Irish 16 year-old boys and girls collected through the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD).

The Europe-wide survey, which runs every four years, examines whether teens use slot machines, play cards or dice, lotteries, scratch cards or bingo, or bet on sports or animals.

The statistics for Ireland, published today by the Institute of Public Health and Tobacco Free Research (IPH), show:

• Some 23% of 16-year-olds here reported gambling for money in the previous year, but this rate was higher among boys at 28.2% compared to 17.9% for girls.
• More than 10% of the gamblers experienced excessive betting, while almost 6% met the criteria for problem gambling.
• Approximately 21% of the gamblers were getting into difficulty with controlling their betting, including 19% who felt the need to bet more money.
• A further 8.1% reported lying to important people about how much money they gambled.

Children were considered to be experiencing problem gambling if they reported feeling the need to lie to important people about how much money they gambled and if they felt the need to bet more and more money.

Boys were found to exhibit different gambling behaviours than girls, and they had much higher odds of excessive gambling, the report found. Approximately 80% of 16-year-olds who gambled in the previous year and who were experiencing excessive or problem gambling were boys.

Excessive gambling was around three times more common among boys than girls. Problem gambling was found to be more than two and a half times more common among boys than girls.

It was also more common for boys to gamble online and bet on sports or animals.

The results show Ireland has the joint fourth highest rate of sports or animal betting, alongside Kosovo, of all 33 countries with data on gambling.

The report shows that when 16-year-olds in Ireland engage in gambling, quite a few of them run into difficulty, according to IPH director of policy Dr Helen McAvoy.

“This is particularly the case for betting on sports and betting online and for boys.”

IPH public health development officer Ciara Reynolds, said: “We hope the report findings will help to inform ongoing gambling reform in Ireland. The report highlights the need for further research on children and gambling in national surveys to build on our evidence and produce more focused approaches to protect children from gambling-related harm.”