Australian parental gambling affects 200,000 children nationwide
The study also suggests that nearly half a million children are at low risk for parental gamblers. Nine out of ten adults do not play risk gambling at all.
Dr. Finland said that previous studies have shown that children whose parents participate in moderate-risk gambling suffer from similar disadvantages as children whose parents are problem gamblers, and the difference is in severity.
Disadvantages include financial stress, mental anxiety and damaged relationships, as well as child welfare concerns such as neglect, malnutrition and various forms of domestic violence, including child exploitation.
“There is a fairly high correlation between domestic violence and gambling, so there are major conflicts in these families and children are witnessing parental violence and are also more likely to be victims of child abuse,” Finland said.
“Gambling problems are also passed down from generation to generation – children of problem gamblers are at increased risk of becoming gamblers themselves.”
Dr. Finland said in a magazine published in Addictive behaviors did not look at gambling, but other studies showed that parents favored online gambling on their smartphones, although there was also evidence that some parents left their children at home to play in playgrounds equipped with slot machines.
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A study published by Gambling Research Australia last year shows that problem gambling has doubled in the last decade, even though there are fewer players, meaning the industry is earning more money from a smaller group of people.
This trend is related to the growing popularity of online gambling, as online gamblers are twice as likely to risk gambling for problem gamblers as other gamblers.
There is evidence that online gambling grew as a problem during the COVID-19 pandemic, although some people playing in person cut due to restrictions on playing venues. Dr. Finland said that more evidence on the effects of COVID on gambling will come from the 2022 HILDA study.
Jacqueline Small, a pediatrician and elected president of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, said the study raised important issues related to children’s health and well-being that should be taken into account in health and social policy.
The university has a Kids COVID Catch Up campaign asking the federal government to appoint a national pediatrician and set up a child recovery task force.
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