Ludomania is an addiction to gambling. With the proliferation of virtual new casino uk, slot machines, poker rooms and computer games, it is becoming more and more common. If earlier gambling was available only to adults, today they are subject to them and teenagers. The situation is especially aggravated in times of covid and lockdown. Let’s see how dangerous ludomania is and what are the chances of its development in teenagers.
What is Ludomania?
Ludomania is a gambling addiction, it can be associated with casinos, computer games, slot machines. At the same time, most teenagers are susceptible to addiction to computer games, especially network games, where there are opponents, competitive moment. It would seem that players do not risk anything, do not put money, as in casino betting. However, it is not so. The danger of ludomania lies in:
- Lack of interest in other areas of life, including studies, hobbies;
- Igromania takes a huge amount of time, the teenager spends hours playing, there is no time left for any other activity;
- There is a deformation of the psyche, values shift;
- Along with interests, the circle of socialising changes, because of which the fight against addiction becomes more and more difficult;
- Problems appear on the physical level – sedentary lifestyle, prolonged sitting at the computer negatively affects the body, vision is disturbed, there are problems with posture because of the constantly bent back. Due to the fact that the head is constantly tilted downward, inevitably suffer and cervical vertebrae. In addition, often gambling addiction is associated with the appearance of overweight, problems with the gastrointestinal tract and so on.
How is the manifestation of ludomania in adolescents?
The development of gambling addiction is especially susceptible to teenagers. This is due to hormonal restructuring, emotional lability, in addition, there is often a desire to “be like everyone else”, interest in the activities of peers.
Only a professional psychologist can accurately determine the presence of addiction. However, the presence of problems and the development of addiction to computer games indicates:
- Lack of diversity of leisure activities – if the teenager spends his time in a varied way, you can not fear the development of addiction in its acute form;
- Presence of problems with grades and learning new knowledge, unwillingness to solve them;
- Presence of friends and social circle, it is critically important that the teenager is able to establish contact, find a common language;
- In the development of game addiction, there is no control over the mode of games, because of them the teenager can not go to bed on time or by the right time to get ready to leave the house;
- Gaming takes the lead in daily life, it may even take precedence over life necessities such as eating or sleeping;
- Escalation of play behaviour – development of uncontrollable aggression when play is lost or restricted.
When symptoms of developing gambling addiction in a teenager appear, it is recommended to seek help from a specialist, a qualified psychologist.
How are things in online casinos?
Modern online casinos and regulators take a number of actions aimed at preventing the development of addiction. Many regulators impose restrictions on the size of bets in the casino, limits on bonuses and so on. In addition, all casinos with a licence from the British regulator UKGC in the mandatory order must be registered in the service GamStop. It allows players to freeze, if necessary, profiles on the sites of all operators at the same time, closing for themselves access to gambling.
In modern casinos, one of the main requirements for players is the age of majority. In some cases, he minimum age threshold is 18 years old, in others – 21 years old. When registering at any casino, the player must confirm that he is over the specified age. Even if he passes the registration procedure and he manages to start betting, it will not be possible to withdraw winnings, because it will be impossible to pass the procedure of identity verification, which involves providing documents.
Most modern casinos have a policy of responsible gaming. It is also aimed at preventing the development of addiction. Under its terms, the player who noticed the “symptoms” of ludomania should contact the support. Specialists will help to set their own limits (on the number, size of bets or losses) or block the profile at will.
Based on all this, we can say that online casinos with slots do not contribute to the spread of gambling addiction among teenagers. In addition, most operators do everything possible to prevent it in their own users.