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It’s almost like they knew.

Earlier this week I blogged and twittered about a study that was actually focusing on adult video gamers rather than the usual teenagers and youths. Now, mere days after that article comes another about how video games are leading our kids into the dangerous world of gambling.

TEENAGERS who play video games regularly are more likely to develop obsessive and antisocial tendencies that lead to problem gambling.

Researchers at the University of Adelaide surveyed 2669 teenagers aged between 13 and 17, and found 56 per cent had gambled in the past year. They also found 2.4 per cent became pathological gamblers by the time they were 18.

That was higher than the 2.1 per cent of adults found to be problem gamblers by the Productivity Commission in 1999, although the level of harm – such as losing a house or a relationship – was much lower for adolescents.

The paper, to be published in the Journal of Gambling Studies next month, found that teenage problem gamblers played arcade games three times more often than non-gamblers, and on average they played hand-held games and internet games more than twice as often.

One of its authors, Associate Professor Paul Delfabbro, said teenage boys were more likely to play video games and gamble regularly, which was one reason for the correlation.

”The other reason is that the sorts of kids who are playing video games probably do so because they’ve got less parental supervision,” he said. ”They’re probably bored; they probably don’t have a lot of structured activity in their life.

”So the physical act of playing video games doesn’t increase the risk of gambling but it is indicative of a pattern of leisure activity, which probably means you’re going to find gambling an entertaining activity.”

Associate Professor Delfabbro said the levels of internet gambling and access to poker machines among adolescents had been kept relatively low compared with Britain and the US.

But a high proportion of teenagers who played video games went on to take part in some form of gambling, most commonly buying scratchies, playing card games, and playing poker machines.

A separate study by Associate Professor Delfabbro found that children who had gambled on a poker machine by the age of 16 were four times more likely to be regular gamblers by 19.

”They’re putting money on private card games, they’re betting on sporting events, they buy scratch tickets from newsagents,” he said.

Dean Bryden, 22, said he began gambling at 14 and soon developed a habit of playing card games at home and on the internet.

His habit increased until he spent $180,000 in a single year, mainly playing blackjack and poker.

”It’s an adrenaline rush for people,” he said. ”I think the internet poker is a big thing because you don’t have to be over the age of 18; it doesn’t matter how old you are.

”You start off having some fun with your mates online and you end up at the casinos spending money.”

Liem Dang, 19, of Canterbury, has been playing video games since he was 12 and is also a gambler.

He said he saw the correlation between the two, as each could be social and competitive.

”I agree with the study,” he said. ”I game for the social aspect and to put my abilities up against someone else and for gambling that happens as well. The sense of humiliation involved is also the same.”

Despite spending much of his time playing online games, he preferred not to gamble over the web and only used Facebook poker. ”I go to Star City around once a month. I would rather spend my money in the real world, I guess.”

I agree, kids gambling is bad. But, and please excuse the language here, why the fuck are the parents of these kids letting them fucking gamble!?

Seriously, there is not a single mention of a parent anywhere in this article.

Now I was recently out of the country but I’m pretty sure the government didn’t pass any legislation legalising underage gambling. So why is it the fault of online gaming that over 50% of kids between the ages of 13 and 17 are gambling?

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