Responsible Parenting Precludes Enabling Addictions

"He would bug us and for the longest time we said 'Absolutely not. It's illegal and blah blah blah'."

"I would say every single one of my son's [high school] friends has an account."

"Every single kid is betting, like everybody ... Eventually, I was just worn down ... Eventually he used my ID -- which I'm not proud of -- and opened an account." 

"My son knows kids who have lost thousands of dollars. One kid won $6,000 on slots at [school] lunch."

Kath (last name withheld) Toronto

 

"It seems like the government has off-loaded this to the families and parents."

"It's giving lip service to responsible gambling."

Harley Redlick, lawyer, responsible-gambling activist

 

"It's definitely widespread."

"And it's a problem because you're getting kids ... addicted to a behaviour that has real-life consequences as they get older."

"Kids are not going into personal bankruptcy. It's feeding this addictive personality." 

David (last name withheld) Toronto 

 

"This is not good for me."

"I have very, very very few friends who have actually made money [on gambling apps]. I know many people who are down by a significant amount of money."

"[I know of people who] have gambled during school and have won big and ... also lost." 

Matt, 17

 

Ontario Provincial Police spokeswoman Tracey Mellersh confirmed that to facilitate access to underage online gambling in the province of Ontario is illegal. No charges have ever to date been laid, however, with the Force choosing a harm reduction, education-based approach to warn parents and guardians of the law and the potential risks inherent in having young people betting.  

 

One person was charged in 2024 by the Ontario Provincial Police for a scheme involving a site called TopBets. In Orillia, Ontario several underage teens were said to have been lured into gambling, then, when they racked up debts were threatened with violence.

 

Kath explained confidentially that she had made use of her own credentials in setting up an account for her 16-year-old son on a government-regulated gambling app. Rules that ban anyone under 19 from using the sites after that ruse, did not apply to him. Her son, she said, had argued unceasingly that his friends were already engaged in doing that very same thing. Groups of boys gathered to bet on sports events or casino games, as a social activity. 

 

When Ontario decided to legalize commercial gambling apps it was a controversial move, and it has only become more controversial as time goes on. Over $100 billion was bet in the last year alone. And with that activity, gambling addiction has spiked, alongside bankruptcies linked to gambling, as well as suicides attributed to gambling losses. Underage teens -- mostly boys -- have taken to gambling in social groups, at home and while at school.

 

Lawyer and activist Harley Redlick reveals that numerous parents have confided to him that they opened accounts for their teenage children, referencing an 'epidemic' of internet betting among adolescents that has become an irresistible social phenomenon. Although hard data linked to the prevalence of underage betting is limited, the market continues to grow, taking the lives of adults and underage teens to new heights of addiction.

 

Mental Health and Online Gambling in Adolescents   Public Health Ontario

 

Last year's Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey revealed that online gambling by teens had "increased significantly" to the  extent that 12 percent of surveyed high school students stated they had bet on the sites, an increase from 2023's eight percent. Harley Redlick is executive director of the Canadian Addiction Recovery Association, who also teaches a professional-development course on gaming law at the Law Society of Ontario.

 

In his experience, he says, some youngsters will borrow IDs without permission in their anxiety to open accounts, taking photos of their parents to upload for their accounts. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario regulator fined Betty Gaming Ltd. $120,000 for 'failures' whereby nine people under 19 created accounts, deposited money to gamble, while another 14 set up accounts without money being deposited. The age restriction is "one of the most basic and important safeguards" in the regulated Ontario system. 

 

"Something they do not know is that actually it's a crime", said Mina Hazar, responsible for a youth gambling awareness program for the YMCA. She hesitates to judge parents who set up gambling accounts for their children, suggesting they consider the long-term consequences -- such as risk of developing a gambling addiction. 

 

The  undeveloped brains of kids that age represents a perfect environment for growing addictions, points out Matthew Young of Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO). In his opinion, relying on being able to monitor their internet gambling -- which might appear to be little different than any other activity on a smartphone -- might not be feasible.

 

Kids are gambling on sports and casino games in social groups, at home and even while at school. Photo by Ty Lim

 

"I get the sentiment of these parents -- this idea that 'I'd rather my kids drink in my basement because they're going to do it anyway'."

"[But] online gambling is very, very easy to hide. ... How do you keep an eye on it is the question?"

Matthew Young, GREO gambling research organization