Turkish Green Crescent searched for problematic online betting among Turkish adolescents

Results of online betting survey conducted by the Green Crescent were published in the "Journal of Gambling Studies". Member of the Green Crescent Scientific Committee Prof. Dr. Osman Tolga Arıcak's article reveals online betting tendency among adolescents comprehensively.

The article "Problematic Online Betting among Turkish Adolescents" which includes the results of online betting survey conducted by the Green Crescent is published in "Journal of Gambling Studies" which is one of the most prestigious scientific journals of academic world with the signature of Prof. Dr. Osman Tolga Arıcak, Member of the Green Crescent Scientific Committee. The survey carried out among adolescents reveals that the age to start online betting falls to 10-12 ages. The survey points out that nearly 61 percent of adolescents betting online prefer to bet online with the thought that they have nothing better to do.

The Most Large-Scale Survey in Online Betting

Referring to that public opinion has been calling attention to problematic online betting among adolescents for the last 2 decades in international arena, Prof. Dr. Arıcak explained the aim of the study: "To determine the prevalence of problematic online betting among Turkish adolescents and common behaviours of youth related to betting and to identify the effect of family on online betting among Turkish adolescents."; Emphasising that this is the first large-scale survey conducted among adolescents in Turkey on online betting, Arıcak stated ";In the survey, questionnaire was prepared for 6116 teenagers aged between 12 and 18 in Istanbul to determine if they are problematic Internet users for betting. Although 756 (12.4 %) adolescents among 6116 reported that they play online betting, only 176 (2.9 %) of them were regarded as problematic internet users. Thus, we collected further data from those 176 adolescents, 14.8% of which were female. A significant positive correlation was found between Internet Addiction (IA) and duration of betting."

Online Betting Age is Falling

Emphasising that the survey results are alarming and online betting has great risks regarding adolescents, Arıcak added "Nearly 61 % of the participants expressed that they prefer to bet online because they do not have better things to do and almost a quarter of the participants started online betting between 10 and 12 years of age."

Peer Influence on Online Betting

Arıcak underlined that another finding of the survey is that the most important people who have influence on adolescents to start online betting are friends, relatives, siblings and parents, respectively. Finally, Prof. Dr. Osman Tolga Arıcak said ";Although there is no relationship between family structure and Internet Addiction among adolescents who are problematic users, participants who live in an unstable family have higher internet addiction scores than participants who live in a stable family."