Three out of four new users of the Agalure association, which helps people suffering from compulsive gambling, does not reach thirty
The Agalure association, which helps people suffering from the disease pathological gambling or other addictions without substance, has detected a “notable increase & rdquor;, in the last three months, of young people – between 18 and 22 years old – who come to the entity in search of advice to rehabilitate their gambling addiction. “The normal thing until now, in this age group, was that they arrived for bets sports but, now, they also do it for slot machines, who usually has a higher age range, around 35 or 40 years old,” says Gerardo Rodríguez, who is a member of Agalure and its program coordinator. Since the beginning of the year, 75% of the 64 new users of the entity (48) are under thirty years of age and came because of their addiction to sports betting and, many of them, because they have already begun to combine this activity with other games of chance.
Agalure’s clinical psychologist, José Manuel Recouso, explains that the first access to the game in young people, especially in minors, it is precisely, in slot machines, because they are in the catering establishments and because their access is easy. “There is usually no supervision of the owners of the premises, we do not say it with the intention of holding them accountable, they already have enough work,” says Recouso, who explains that, as young people approach the age of majority and how their body evolves — if they appear older, they are more likely to start earliereven at 16— are already entering the world of sports betting, accessing them in gaming halls and also in bars. In principle, as explained by the clinical psychologist from Agalure, young people go in groups to places where they can gamble, as a social activity, even making a boat to play, although later, when their addiction increases, they do so in lonely, even online, especially when they start to “feel ashamed& rdquor; because of the magnitude of their activity and when they want to cover it up.
“The problem that exists now is that many of these betting rooms are also cafeterias in which it is easier for them to be able to consume at a cheaper cost and, it can even be free depending on the volume of gambling, stay in these places, to them, it’s like staying in a cafeteria or like when he used to stay to go to Bingo for dinner, knowing that they could invite you& rdquor;, says Recouso.
The immediacy of sports betting —in which you can play not only to guess the result of a match but also to many other variables, such as who will score the first or last goal— is very dangerous because users are not aware of the risk that they run by betting on them. “They are having some favorable results and, from there, they generate the fantasy that, initially, they control the activity and that they obtain a favorable response with the bets they make. From there they begin to bet on everything, tennis, basketball… bets on horses and greyhounds are the pipes of sports betting because the result is very fast, it’s almost like playing a slot machine & rdquor ;, defines Recouso, who emphasizes that the majority of people with a gambling addiction enter this world as a minor. That is why its prevention campaigns focus on young people.
National studies prove us right, because they say that, “from the age of fourteen, betting activities begin to be developed & rdquor ;. When they arrive at Agalure, many of the kids who walk through the door have been playing for a year or more and some, depending on their activity, can accumulate debts of many thousands of euros.. Just a few days ago, without going any further, a 22-year-old went to the center with a hole of 40,000 euros generated by losses from sports betting and slot machines.
“Gamblers tend to maximize profits and minimize losses, so the vast majority defend that they have profits despite the large volume of debt they have generated,” says Recouso, who ensures that most of these young people go to Agalure “for family pressure & rdquor ;, because at home they detect that savings have decreased or that significant amounts of money have been spent without justification. “When they start to investigate, what they discover is that there is a gambling problem & rdquor ;, reveals Recouso, which indicates that the “latency period & rdquor; in sports betting it is relatively short, one year, normally from 17 to 18 or 19 years of age.
The process and the drama is always the same, since when players start to lose a lot of money, what they do is bet more to try to recover it and, since that is not usually possible, they open a new stage that is, in turn, a trap. “They begin to ask for quick loans, in which there is no type of control or supervision. First they ask for one, then another to pay this down payment and they enter into the same dynamics that they entered before with credit cards,” says Recouso.
But, is there any determining factor for this increase in users to be more pronounced in recent months than in previous years? The Agalure clinical psychologist is clear that it is: “first, the pandemic and, later, the post-pandemic& rdquor ;.
The pandemic, trigger
During the confinement, the increase in bets occurred with the game over the internet, but, once the premises opened, according to Recouso, “everything is done with greater intensity, going out, drinking and, of course, gambling& rdquor ;, as if consumers wanted to “get even & rdquor; of the time of confinement and, now, the consequences of those excesses arrive.
Recouso and Rodríguez emphasize that gambling problems are very democratic, in the sense that they affect “any sector of the population& rdquor; and that it goes deeper into people who have more income because they can have more gaming activity. “It is a pandemic that affects the rural and urban areas… We cannot discriminate” summarizes the clinical psychologist, who assures that part of the rehabilitation of young people is to take charge of the debt generated, although be their parents or their relatives who face it at first. “They have to return that money, so that they realize that there are consequences,” Recouso sentences.
Regarding the new gambling law, the entity explains that long-awaited changes have been introduced, such as that the distance at which new gambling venues cannot be opened is within a radius of 300 meters from schools and institutes and not linear, like the previous one rule, although they believe that even more progress is needed, such as that self-banned people cannot buy lottery or ONCE coupons or that surveillance on the use of betting machines is increased.