Underage Gambling: Dangers and Prevention
The risk of developing a gambling addiction is four times greater for underage gamblers than for adults. It is therefore important that as a parent, you take great care to educate your children about the dangers
of gambling and take steps to prevent them from gambling. For youth, it is important to realize that gambling can easily become an addiction, regardless of whether you believe you can become addicted. No one ever
starts out thinking they will become addicted, so it is very important to learn of the dangers involved and to gaurd yourself against the desire to gamble in any way, shape or form.
Parents should not, under any circumstances, take their children on casino visits, give them lottery tickets, or encourage gambling in any. In addition to these precautions, there are some other important steps to
take to prevent your child from gambling.
- Do not leave children unattended near the computer while gambling software is running.
- Install child protection software that prevents access to gambling and other sites not suitable for minors (list of software below).
- Insure that your casino program is protected with a password that you have to enter each time you log in. Do not use automatic login.
- Keep your online casino passwords and username, as well as your credit cards, out of reach of your children.
- Talk to your children about the legality and the potential damage of underage gambling. Make them aware of the risks and the potential to become dependent upon it.
The following censorship software can be used to stop minors from accessing gambling or other adult websites:
- Net Nanny - Net Nanny is a filtering program that prevents children from accessing inappropriate web content.www.netnanny.com
- Cybersitter β This program also prevents children from accessing any sites not suitable for minors, including gambling sites. It updates automatically and is customizable. www.solidoak.com
- Surfcontrol β Another great program that offers advanced and customizable filtering of websites. www.surfcontrol.com
