Sharp Increase in Teen Gambling Addiction Counseling Over the Past Five Years
Illegal Online Casinos Account for 80% of Counseling Cases
Jo Gyewon: "Early Prevention and Education Must Work Together"
Assemblyman Jo Gye-won
It has been analyzed that the exposure of teenagers to illegal online casino gambling has reached a critical level.
Assemblyman Jo Gye-won of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee (Yeosu-eul, South Jeolla Province), announced on October 17 that, based on an analysis of annual gambling addiction counseling statistics submitted by the Korea Center on Gambling Problems, consultations related to teenage (those in their teens) gambling, particularly centered on illegal online casinos, have surged over the past five years.
The proportion of teenagers among all gambling addiction counseling cases jumped from 8% in 2020 to 15% in 2024. During the same period, the number of counseling cases related to illegal online casino gambling among teenagers increased more than twentyfold, from 112 cases in 2020 to 2,459 cases in 2024.
As of August this year, there were 1,566 cases, and the proportion of teenagers in gambling addiction counseling soared to 86%. Assemblyman Jo explained that the phenomenon of so-called "casinos in your hand"-such as illegal online casinos and private sports betting sites-being easily accessed via smartphones and social media has led to a sharp increase in the influx of people in their teens and twenties.
Because illegal online casino sites rapidly rotate overseas domains and bypass payment systems, it is virtually impossible to block teenagers' access unless pre-filtering is implemented at the platform advertising, search, and app market distribution stages.
Assemblyman Jo stated, "The counseling data is sounding a dangerous alarm," adding, "There are clear limits to 'visible crackdowns' alone, so proactive blocking of illegal online casino advertisements, as well as simultaneous victim counseling and treatment, and early prevention education, must all be implemented together."
He further emphasized, "The National Gambling Control Commission should work with the National Police Agency to strengthen the effectiveness of preemptive blocking measures and sanctions against illegal online gambling sites, and to establish a system that blocks overseas servers, proxy payments, and hosting services together."
Assemblyman Jo also added, "We will work with relevant ministries to prevent the spread of harm by connecting schools, counseling centers, and the Korea Center on Gambling Problems for regular preventive education, early identification and referral of at-risk groups, and expanding 24-hour counseling channels (phone, chat, messenger)."
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