Fruit machines top teen gambling addictions
28 July, 2006
Publicans should be trained to stop teen gambling
Fruit machines top the list of gambling activities for teens, say new research by gambling charity GamCare.
In its latest survey of just over 8,000 children aged 12 to 15 it found that 17 per cent had spent money on fruit machines at least once in the past seven days. The average spending was £4.98 each time.
The charity has called on publicans to look into training their staff to monitor fruit machines as it claims that 24 per cent of all callers to its helpline in 2005 cited the pub as the location they played on fruit machines.
Adrian Scarfe, head of clinical services at GamCare said: “The question of how to prevent this is a difficult one, but an important one to address.
“At gaming centres where fruit machines are a central part of the business we train gaming staff, but publicans have other problems to think about.”
The research was carried out for MORI and Nottingham Trent University’s International Gambling Research Unit.