• Educators must have a general knowledge of the new developments and traps in this field: gambling, the various possibilities to play for money (offline, online, on television, via texting, ...), e-commerce, e-privacy as well (for instance the discussion about the age control), consumer abuse and consumption (the new developments in the field of means of payment among others), addiction to the internet ... and of the possible interface between these different aspects of the internet safety theme. In the first place in relationship with the behaviour of minors. There are currently pedagogical documents available on www.saferinternet.be about the different categories of online games, compulsive internet use, the legal means parents and educators dispose of when law violations are established, concrete addresses and help giving initiatives for people with (online) gambling and gaming problems, … Next to that there are also thematic documents and dossiers available. In French and Dutch.
• They must also know the specific risks of online gambling: low threshold, anonymity, social control that falls out, always accessible, no control (meaning: nobody who signals how long you are already playing and how much money you have already lost), the risk of losing a lot more money that can be lost through 'regular' gambling, the risk to get lost in the cyberworld and not being able to stop anymore…
• It is important to know how minors of age can be legally protected, what possible extra initiatives the commercial sector is taking itself (self-regulation), to what extent these initiatives are successful, where complaints can be notified or questions can be asked... Violations or suspect handling that are notified by educators to the competent authorities (consumer organisations, competent ombudsman, Gaming Commission ...) can help in the development of new legislative and other initiatives and may bring more clarity about emerging problems.
• It can be very useful for parents to talk to their children about certain things. For instance about how the poker industry does little or nothing to deny young people access to online gambling sites that require payment, how easy it is for youths to get around controls by date of birth etc.. Poker may seem like a game of skill, as is often asserted by youngsters, but it is a gambling game. In the meantime it is considered as such by almost every European game of chance supervisor. Money is easily spent in the flush of the game and as a result any person can get into serious (financial) trouble. Games such as poker can be addictive. It is good to have children and minors of age realise this. And to help them to recognise the feeling when they get the urge to continue playing when they actually ought to stop. That is an alarm signal. Young people must know that online gambling is not an innocent pass-time and that virtual casinos are only there to take money from the players. The fact that there is some gain at one time or another gives some players the illusion that the jackpot is within their reach, but that is far from the truth. Before they know it online players are caught in a vicious circle. After each game the computer asks if they want to 'play once more?' and the enter button is very easy and quickly clicked.
• Young people should know that 'magical' thinking, superstition and illusion often play an important role in the mind of the player, who believes that he or she can influence the course of the game and control it by applying a system, by mere chance and/or by using 'magical' numbers (more info on this also on saferinternet.be). Youngsters should on the contrary learn that the chances to win are very small and almost non existent. And that all money games are conceived in such a way that the chance to win is a whole lot smaller than the risk to loose. There's a pedagogical file available on this also.
• Something to think about: the Gaming Commission in Belgium recently introduced the idea of sanctioning the internet gamblers themselves, because they make it possible for the illegal games to continue and therefore also carry a part of the responsibility...

The Belgian psychiatrist S. Minet, who specialises in the problem of addiction and is linked to the Dostojevski Gambling Clinic in Brussels, expects a boom of online gambling addiction among young people in the near future. He speaks of internet gambling as a disease that has a certain incubation period just like other illnesses. It takes an average of two to five years for a gambling addiction to surface. He worries about young players, i.e. the age group that is particularly drawn to the internet and also warns about the connection between compulsive internet use and gambling addiction. It is indeed true that precisely this vulnerable age group contains the most skilful and the most keen internet users.

We must be vigilant, but panic is a bad advisor. Gambling and gaming for money can have something to do with the urge to experiment. Young people in their puberty want to extend their boundaries and develop new forms of behaviour and new standards and values. Sometimes they do it just for pleasure, for kicks, to escape from boredom and loneliness, to be accepted in a group, because they hope to earn a lot of money fast ... All gambling does not lead to addiction but it is important to recognise the different stages of gambling addiction (from innocent to dependent). The magazine "Klasse voor leerkrachten" from the Flemish Ministry of Education, destined for Flemish teachers and aiming at all people who provide education in Flanders, is working together with various organisations, including the CRIOC, on a dossier for teachers on gambling. How to handle this problem? What are possible prevention measures? How can we avoid a problem or deal with it at the level of the school, the class and the individual person? There will be more about this in subsequent articles for this newsletter.

The CRIOC wants to continue to follow up this problem within the Insafe Network and develop new pedagogical initiatives in this domain. The Belgian Gaming Commission invited us to add some questions to a survey that is being organised amongst the game of chance regulators in the European member states. The answers to these questions about problems with minors of age and gambling on the internet in the various European countries, about possible concrete advice for educators and parents given by these regulators in the European countries and about possible pedagogical initiatives and materials that exist in the European member states may be an interesting next step to continue ....

Different studies by the CRIOC on minors and gambling are available on www.saferinternet.be (only in Dutch and French). More information? Questions or suggestions? Please send an e-mail to infonl@saferinternet.be (Dutch) and infofr@saferinternet.be (French)