The Ombudsman of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires prepared a report on online betting in adolescents from Buenos Aires schools. The analysis of the results, presented this Friday, revealed a revealing fact: at least 36% of those surveyed do so on official platforms.
The data once again puts the responses of legal sites in the spotlight, which ensure that their pages have a “rigorous” identity validation system that they don’t allow play for minors.
Although CABA legislation says that only people over 18 years of age can participate in betting, and although there are different campaigns to restrict betting in this sector, 1 in 4 respondents revealed that they had placed a bet online at least once. The study was carried out in 25 secondary schools in the City and included the participation of 2,765 students between 12 and 19 years old.
Among the students who did know where they bet, the majority responded that they do so through official platforms, while 24% do so in illegal ones. This implies that of the total number of those who can identify the type of platform on which they bet – the rest said they did not know – 60% claim to use legal sites compared to 40% who admit to doing so on unofficial platforms.
With 39%, they are students who don’t know if the platforms they play on are official or not“which reflects a high degree of ignorance about the legality of the sites used for online betting,” says the work of the Ombudsman.
This lack of knowledge is observed more among students in the basic cycle, that is, those in 1st and 2nd year, compared to the more advanced years of secondary school. “Online gambling aimed at minors is illegal, but for some reason this is happening. The State has to think of other mechanisms so that this does not happen. The people from the Lottery of the province of Buenos Aires assured us that it is impossible for a minor to bet with their identity, but the data shows that it happens, we don’t know how, but the kids play“said the city’s ombudsman, María Rosa Muiños.
Home or school
Recently, the Buenos Aires Government banned all schools in the district limit mobile phone useexcept in particular situations. In addition, focusing on “adolescent gambling”, it blocked the online betting sites of public institutions.
According to the study, The school was not identified as the main place where they gamble. In this case They assured that the place where they mostly do it is in their own homes. “It is important to focus on how family dynamics occur, given that more than half of those surveyed answered that the place where they bet is their own homes,” said Muiños.
For illegal betting sites to operate, it is essential to use social networks, from where “cashiers” receive money transfers that are then converted into credits to use on the site and bet. Now, to spread it they use influencers and showbiz characters who advertise the ATMs and their phone numbers.. The Government of the City of Buenos Aires, through the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the City, recently notified “14 celebrities and influencers for the promotion and recruitment of bettors through the advertising they have carried out on social networks and other media.”
But according to the data, how much incidence is there in the youngest children? When asked about how they found out about the platforms, 60% indicated that they accessed it through friends or acquaintanceswhile 19.3% did so through influencers.
Is there a marked trend in relation to age?
According to the study, there is a marked trend in relation to age. The data expressed that as students advance In their academic journey, participation in the sites increases.
In the last three years of high school, the 28.5% of students has made a bet. While only the 13% of first-year students have bet, this percentage increases in the case of fifth-year boys.
Much was said about the preference of the type of game that minors choose: casino is in first place with 47.8%, followed by sports betting with 32.3%. The researchers of this study explained to Clarion This data can be explained, in part, by the more limited access to sports betting compared to casino games that are available 24 hours a day.
Regarding payment methods, The use of the virtual wallet is predominant, with 90%. This high percentage reflects the digitalization of transactions among adolescents and the ease of access that these means offer to participate in online betting.
In relation to this data, the Ombudsman sent a recommendation to the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) asking it to instruct the banks to to share with guardians or guardians the information on minors’ expenses that were made through banks or virtual wallets. In addition, recommendations were sent to all financial institutions to voluntarily provide, as they are not required to do so, a summary of the minor’s account expenses.
Regarding the motivations for betting, the most frequent chosen by those who answered the survey It was the search for money, since 67% of the comments analyzed by the Ombudsman refer to this reason. Students see gambling as a quick and easy way to earn incomeallowing them access to products, outlets or even a form of economic autonomy. “It encourages me to earn money to indulge myself”wrote one of the boys surveyed by the Ombudsman’s Office.
