Why Is Online Gambling And Gaming Popular Among Young People?

The internet has become a common feature in everyday life, and it has changed the way we communicate, access entertainment, and interact with others. Now more than ever, our youths are spending time online for entertainment and other purposes. At the same time, online gambling has also become popular amongst teenagers and young adults. The number of young adults who gamble online is increasing rapidly.

Reasons To Gamble

Let's talk about why more and more young people do it?

High Accessibility And Availability

Gaming online has become extremely accessible and available. The growth of these services means that players can play anytime, anywhere. Players can play online games at any time of the day or night because these services offer 24/7 access. They are able to play online at any time, from anywhere because with today's standards, smartphones and tablets are always with youths.

Looking For New Sensations

The youth and young adolescents of today have the necessity of constantly looking for new sensations. Current generations are taking risks and jumping into the unknown. They like what they don't know and love it when they can't explain it. Online gaming offers them the possibility to experience different sensations, such as adrenaline, joy, surprise and a point of fear without limits as to where or when.

Easy And Fast Money Acquisition

At present we are submerged in a great economic crisis, this implies that young people have lengthened their years of study, thus delaying emancipation. The difficulties of finding a job that can be compatible with educational responsibilities generates frustration in young people, who see how they cannot be economically sufficient and depend on their parents. In turn, the messages that young people receive is that they can all be rich and that it is not necessary to make great efforts. That's right, how young people believe that gambling can be a quick and easy way to obtain money, which will allow them to depend less on their parents and have money available to do what they please, without giving explanations.

Avoiding Problems

Adolescence and early adulthood is when people begin to acquire greater responsibilities. In this period, emotional management and regulation skills are in full development, likewise, adolescence and early adulthood is a period marked by impulsiveness. Therefore, young people with emotional regulation difficulties can find in the online game an escape route that allows them to evade reality for a while and even get a certain anesthetic state of trance or affective and emotional flattening, due to the adrenaline produced by the game.

Socialization

Adolescence and early adulthood, peers are very important. During this period, it is crucial to share the leisure model with our relatives, so that they integrate us. Thanks to the easy accessibility of online gaming, young adults and adolescents are prone to spend time online rather than in the real world with their friends. That is why online gaming has become a common leisure activity in youths, replacing other traditional leisure activities.

Fighting Boredom

In the era of new technologies, adolescents spend most of their time connected to electronic devices. This makes them overstimulated and not used to spending time doing nothing. Boredom is the feeling experienced when there is a lack of fun or interest in something. So, if you don't do anything to pass the time, that's when boredom sets in, a situation you generally try to avoid, especially during adolescence. In this evolutionary stage, emotions are experienced more intensely. Therefore, boredom produces great discomfort among young people. The wide range of online games responds to the demands of all young people, so online gaming is a great alternative for them, to stave off boredom.

References

1. Gupta, R., Derevensky, J. L., & Ellenbogen, S. (2006). Personality characteristics and risk-taking tendencies among adolescent gamblers. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 38(3), 201;
2. Estévez, A., Jauregui, P., Macía, L., & Martín-Pérez, C. (2022). Alexithymia and Emotion Regulation Strategies in Adolescent Gamblers with and Without At-Risk Profiles. Journal of Gambling Studies, 38(1), 15-29;
3. Estévez, A., Jáuregui, P., Lopez-Gonzalez, H., Mena-Moreno, T., Lozano-Madrid, M., Macia, L., Granero, R., Mestre-Bach, G., Steward, T., Fernández-Aranda, F., Gómez-Peña, M., Moragas, L., Del Pino-Gutierrez, A., Codina, E., Testa, G., Vintró-Alcaraz, C., Agüera, Z., Munguía, L., Baenas, I., … Jiménez-Murcia, S. (2020). The severity of gambling and gambling related cognitions as predictors of emotional regulation and coping strategies in adolescents. Journal of Gambling Studies;
4. Kang, K., Ok, J. S., Kim, H., & Lee, K. S. (2019). The gambling factors related with the level of adolescent problem gambler. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(12), 1–16.