Gamblers Asked to Grow Up

A review of gaming regulation and age limits, advertising policies, and the impact of technological change (its Internet version) will be called into action in England, where it has been found in a new research that over 100,000 youth (ages 11 - 15) are gambling addicts. According to official research reports, the gambling age limit in England should be raised from 16 to 18 years of age.

Britain is currently the only country in the world permitting children of all ages to play on slot machines (with jackpots of up to £5), and allow 16 year olds to buy lottery tickets, scratch cards, and participate in football pools. A similar research commissioned by "Oflot" England's lottery watchdog in 1998, revealed that a staggering 75 percent of children play the fruit machines, which contributes to 3 percent of the under aged problem gamblers. Also, 1 percent suffers from scratch card addiction. A spokeswoman of the Camelot National lottery operator explained that this is "a problem facing many sectors".

The study was conducted by David Cameron's policy commission on social justice and lead by a top gambling expert. Mr. Cameron is expected to support the commission's findings. Psychologist research has time after time proven that the younger a person starts to gamble, the more chance they have of developing problems, and in compliance, the Tories have agreed that "the age limit for all forms of gambling should be raised to 18".

A professor at Nottingham Trent University, Mark Griffiths, has concluded in his report that labor's recent Gambling Act will increase the number of addicts, which today exceeds 300,000 adults. The labor party's approach has been criticized as a betrayal of the party's founding principles. Also, under Labor's Gambling Act the number and sizes of casinos will grow from 140 to 157. It is believed that the widespread research into the causes of social breakdown currently being conducted, will give rise to a rebalancing of tax and benefit systems in favor of families and marriage by Tories.

The report also calls for a thorough analysis of gaming in the new media and latest technologies, including Internet, mobile phones, and interactive television. It stated that the single most important measure would be to raise the legal age of gambling; "At the very least, there should be a review of slot machine to assess whether it should be restricted to those over 18 years of age". Possibly the most important aspect in the issue's urgency is the fact that overt signs of problem and addiction do not occur until late in the gambler's professional career.

Discussions and deliberations are now expected to take place in light of this alarming evidence.