Adolescents in Gyeongnam Left Neglected in 'Cyber Gambling'... Prevention Education Seen as 'Someone Else's Problem' Despite High-Risk Diagnosis

Risk Group Ratio 'Nationwide Highest' in Gambling Industry Supervision Commission Investigation
Committee Experts "Mandatory Cyber Prevention Education for Middle and High School Students Needed"

A teenager engaging in 'Social Graph,' a new type of illegal online gambling. Addiction to illegal internet gambling among teenagers often leads to crimes such as theft and fraud. However, related government agencies and educational authorities are criticized for practically doing nothing, failing to recognize the seriousness of the situation.
Photo by Yoon Dong-ju

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Middle and high school students in the Gyeongnam region have been found to have the highest risk of falling into cyber gambling such as ladder games nationwide, but preventive education on this issue is not being properly conducted, raising concerns.

According to the Integrated Supervision Committee for Gambling Industry and the Korea Center on Gambling Problems in 2020, among 15,349 middle and high school students surveyed nationwide regarding gambling problems, 2.4% were classified as a high-risk group.

Looking at the risk group ratios by region, Gyeongnam was highest at 3.9%, followed by Gwangju 3.4%, Ulsan 3.2%, Jeonbuk 3.1%, Daejeon 2.9%, Sejong 2.7%, Busan 2.7%, Gangwon 2.6%, Seoul 2.5%, Jeju 2.1%, Chungnam 2%, Gyeonggi 2%, Daegu 1.9%, Incheon 1.8%, and Jeonnam 1.7%.

In particular, in the Gyeongnam region, the youth gambling problem risk group was 1.9% and the problem group 2.0%, the highest levels. Considering that there are approximately 180,000 middle and high school students in Gyeongnam, this means 7,020 students (3,600 in the problem group and 3,420 in the risk group) are facing gambling problems.

Accordingly, the number of counseling cases related to youth cyber gambling in the province has been steadily increasing. According to the Gyeongnam Gambling Management Center, the total number of counseling cases was 1,844 in 2018, 2,139 in 2019, 2,846 in 2020, and as of March this year, 568 cases were recorded.

Although the number of cyber gambling counseling cases among local students is increasing, the actual status of cyber gambling prevention education by the provincial office of education is quite the opposite. The number of applications for cyber gambling prevention education by the Gyeongnam Office of Education was 523 sessions (17,807 students) in 2019, 355 sessions (13,051 students) in 2020, and fewer than 50 sessions as of March 25, 2021.

Among four high school students in Gyeongnam interviewed by the reporter, two answered, "I have not recently received cyber gambling prevention education at school." The other two said, "I have received related education recently, but it is less frequent compared to smoking and school violence prevention education."

Considering the COVID-19 situation, the Gyeongnam Gambling Management Center is conducting prevention education online, but the number of education applications is reportedly very low.

Regarding this, a Gyeongnam Office of Education official explained, "Until last year, most curricula were converted to non-face-to-face formats, making it difficult to conduct prevention education," and added, "Considering the effectiveness of prevention education, we tend to prefer face-to-face education over online education."

Experts suggest eliminating the one-off nature of prevention education and actively revealing the hidden youth cyber gambling problems through a survey on the actual conditions of cyber gambling among students in the Gyeongnam region.

Park Geun-woo, director of the Gyeongnam Gambling Management Center, emphasized, "In most cases, gambling problems that start during adolescence continue into adulthood," and added, "Systematic and continuous prevention education by the Office of Education is lacking."

He continued, "While cyber gambling has already spread like a culture among youth, awareness of cyber gambling prevention education is still low," and added, "Cyber gambling prevention education should be converted into mandatory education, and awareness improvement among students, parents, and educational institutions through related programs is necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.