The average age of teenagers caught for gambling has dropped consistently over the past five years, raising concern the crime could spill over to other illegal acts to fund their betting habits, including school violence, officials said Friday.
A total of 171 teens aged 14-19 were criminally booked on charges related to gambling last year, more than double the 74 people booked in 2022, according to the National Police Agency. Most of them were male, accounting for 92.4 percent, officials said.
The average age of teens charged with gambling has grown increasingly younger in the past five years, from 17.3 years old in 2019 to just 16.1 years old in 2023.
They mostly engaged in online gambling games, like Baccarat or Sports Toto, which tend to determine the results of the wager within 10 seconds per game, and played them at PC bang, or internet cafes, using their personal electronics.
Police suspect teenage gambling crimes will keep creeping up in the future due to the ubiquitousness of smartphones, which m
akes gambling sites easily accessible, while bank accounts and cash loans that can be made remotely also play a factor in driving up the crime.
More recently, there are concerns over gambling spreading to school violence or secondary crimes, such as internet fraud or short-term high-interest loans, in the process of raising gambling funds.
In response, the National Police Agency plans to carry out a set of stern comprehensive measures this year, including distributing prevention measures to parents and creating promotional material to eradicate teenage gambling crimes.
Those who are first-time offenders or have committed minor offenses will be dismissed with a warning or given a summary trial for minor offenses, which may result in fines.
The police said they will also offer weekly consulting to the teenage suspects for the three months after they were caught, citing the high likelihood that they will gamble again after 90 days.
Meanwhile, police plan to conduct a special crackdown on cyber gambling targ
eting teenagers starting this month until the end of October.
Source: Yonhap News Agency