“Maybe our child too?”… Even 9-year-old elementary school students are addicted to online gambling

The National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency (National Investigation Headquarters) announced on the 25th that it had conducted a special crackdown on cyber gambling targeting youth, arrested 2,925 people, and recovered a total of 61.9 billion won in criminal proceeds.

Noodles Bon conducted a ‘special crackdown on cyber gambling targeting youth’ for six months from September 25 last year to March 31 this year. In particular, among the 2,925 people arrested, 1,035 were juveniles. The police detained 75 adults among them.

The majority of youth arrested were ‘gambling offenders’ (1,012 people), accounting for 97.8% of the total. In addition, there were 12 people who ‘operated gambling sites’, 6 people who ‘advertised gambling sites’, and 5 people who provided cannon items. Of the 1,035 arrested youth, 566 were referred to a professional counseling agency with the consent of the person involved and their guardian.

When divided by age, high school students accounted for the largest number at 798, followed by middle school students (228) and college students (7). Two elementary school students were also included, and the minimum age was 9, who gambled with 10,000 won.

The largest type of youth gambling was baccarat (434 people, 41.9%), followed by sports gambling (205 people, 19.8%), casino (177 people, 17.1%), and powerball and slot machines (152 people, 14.7%). , followed by casual games (67 people, 6.5%).

Looking at the gambling site inflow channels by age group, middle and high school students had the most common use of ‘friend referrals’.

The police pointed out ‘smartphone text messaging’ as the main means of luring students of various ages, including elementary school students. In addition, it was analyzed that they were deceived by online site advertisements and SNS advertisements.

The reason why youth cyber gambling is spreading is because all you need is an account in your real name or a cultural gift certificate, and you can recharge your gambling funds after simple membership registration. There is also a misconception that gambling is a game.

In this crackdown, it was discovered that over 1,000 financial accounts under the names of teenagers were used to manage gambling funds.

Youth cyber gambling has recently shown a clear tendency to become gamified and intelligent.

For example, the Daejeon Office Cyber ​​Investigation Unit arrested eight gambling site operators (six arrested) who established simple rules such as odd-even, ladder, and penalty kicks to confirm wins and losses in the shortest possible time and then exchange money. Additionally, 33 youth gamblers were identified.

The Busan Office Cyber ​​Investigation Unit investigated a case in which two youths with excellent coding and server management skills opened a gambling site with an adult, arrested 16 people (1 person arrested), and caught 96 youth gamblers. The gambling funds they received amounted to 213 million won.

Noodles plans to continue its ‘special crackdown on cyber gambling targeting youth’ for six months starting in May.

In addition, we plan to eradicate illegal harmful information online through the honorary cyber police ‘Nuri Cops’ and expand ‘visiting gambling crime prevention education’ by utilizing cyber crime prevention instructors.

Woo Jong-soo, head of the Noodle Division, said, “Considering the seriousness of youth gambling, we will strictly enforce the law against high-value and habitual gamblers and strive to heal, rehabilitate, educate, and promote at the government-wide level.” He asked society to pay attention as well.

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