BY
Jonathan Tan

Lead Editor

Hype Issue #60

Published on

January 24, 2025

The persistent rise in the gaming industry, fueled by the introduction of online gambling, seems to have no end.  Experts are now worrying about the effects of this epidemic on public health and safety. “Many people might be really experiencing harms from gambling — we think that it’s probably around 72 million people globally,” said Louisa Degenhardt, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, in an NBC article.

The online gambling craze has spread worldwide, and even Singapore, with its strict gambling regulations, is not immune to it. In a recent survey conducted by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), illegal online gambling rates have more than tripled since 2020, from 0.3% to 1.0% in the past 4 years.

This statistic alone highlights an already concerning trend. Even more troubling, however, is that the illegal nature of these websites means there are no regulatory laws or age restrictions. As a result, the proliferation of these online websites has allowed a brand new demographic to start gambling: the Singaporean youth.

How to lose thousands before adulthood

“I started gambling when I was 13 years old, at a friend’s house,” George (not his real name) shares. Now an 18-year-old student, George recalls how a simple game among friends slowly grew into an all-consuming gambling addiction.

In NCPG’s 2023 survey, 8% of respondents reported participating in social gambling activities: gambling which occurs within individuals’ homes, among family members. Photo from Shutterstock.

Initially, George and his friends gambled with low stakes, like a dollar here and there. However, the games slowly escalated: from $1 to $10, then to $100, and eventually to $1000. Unsurprisingly, with such large sums at stake, George’s relationship with his friends began to strain.

“I realized that after a certain point, the more and more money we [bet], the more and more our relationship with each other [soured]; and so we decided to curb it at a maximum buy-in of $20 per game,” George says.

The new rule eased the tension between George and his friends, but it inadvertently created a new problem: George no longer felt the thrill of winning large sums. As a result, he began seeking other ways to gamble.

“The first time I gambled online was when I was 16 years old. A friend had introduced me to a gambling website,” he recalls. “And at first it was all right. I won a bit, I lost a bit, but no one got hurt.”

But it didn’t take long for him to get hooked; a single sports bet was what netted George his first big win. “On the first day, I went from $10 to $800 from a simple parlay bet,” George says. “I felt unstoppable. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and [I felt] I could never lose. [After] that day, I gambled like $100 almost every day for a straight month.”

A parlay (a form of sports betting that has recently surged in popularity) is a single bet that combines two or more bets into one. While doing this drastically decreases the odds of winning, it also drastically increases the potential payout. Photo from Getty Images.

Nothing could stop George’s gambling fervor. Even after losing nearly a thousand dollars on a single blackjack hand, all George did was place a bigger bet to try and win it back. “Every morning, when I [woke] up, all I could think about was gambling,” he shares.

And of course, George’s obsession with online gambling was only exacerbated by the accessibility of these websites.

First, the online nature of these websites allowed George to gamble anywhere, at any time. “For online gambling, you have it right at your fingertips. As soon as you wake up, you can just log on the computer and start betting huge amounts of money,” he mentions.

But more importantly, these illegal gambling websites enabled George to do something he was never old enough to do in the first place. 

“I’m too young to gamble at a real casino or a physical casino. But online gambling makes it way more accessible because there’s no verification of ID,” George says.

Consequences, consequences

Therein lies the predatory nature of these illegal websites. While anyone can fall victim to a gambling addiction, certain factors may make the youth especially vulnerable. 

“The adolescent brain is still developing, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making, impulse control, and risk assessment. This makes young people more susceptible to impulsive behaviors,” says Jat Tan, the Communications and Events Executive at WE CARE Community Services. 

The prefrontal cortex is primarily developed during adolescence, and is fully developed at the age of 25 years. Photo from iStock.

Additionally, other factors such as peer pressure, social media, or limited life experience, could result in young Singaporeans being more open to gambling.

Lastly, one popular reason why the youth are drawn to gambling, is their limited financial freedom. “While youths are in school, they have a significantly lower earning power as opposed to adults. The demands from school usually means that they can only afford to work part-time jobs,” Mrs Tan shares. 

Despite this, many young Singaporeans still want to live extravagant lifestyles. With the youth getting exposed to lavish, ostentatious lifestyles on social media, many begin to feel envious and yearn for the same luxuries. And now, with the introduction of illegal online sites, the lack of age restrictions allows these youths to gamble in an attempt to achieve this better life.

What can be done?

The increase in the number of adolescent gamblers is a new challenge for the Singaporean government. Before the advent of online gambling, many safeguards were in place to protect Singaporeans from developing gambling addictions.

In particular, safeguards that limit Singaporeans’ access to legal gambling services seem to be working; the overall percentage of gambling Singaporeans has fallen from 44% to 40% from 2020 to 2023. 

However, the unprecedented accessibility and convenience of online gambling sites have allowed Singapore’s tech-savvy youth to bypass these regulations; and now, the Singaporean government needs to update its laws to keep up with the growing gambling industry.

Of course, the Singaporean Government has been cracking down on illegal online gambling. As of September 2024, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) has blocked access to more than 1,900 remote gambling websites. But despite the GRA’s efforts, these online gambling providers continue to survive, like weeds in a garden. 

“GRA recognises that the borderless nature of the Internet makes it easy for unlawful gambling operators to offer their products to users in Singapore any time and anywhere,” said a GRA spokesman in a Straits Times article. 

Currently, there are calls for the government to shift its focus. “While Singapore has done well putting in place responsible gaming and safety measures to mitigate the risks of casino gambling, it is timely to focus more attention to address the risk of illegal online gambling as well,” said Ms Tham, Clinical director of We Care Community Services, in a Straits Times article.

Ultimately, as the gambling industry becomes more technologically advanced, it becomes harder for Singapore to regulate gambling the same way it used to. Thus, it may be time for the Singaporean government to consider a different solution.

“Better educating youths on the harms and consequences of gambling, as well as resources available should things go awry, would be the best option to nip the issue in the bud,” Ms Tan suggests. Instead of focusing on restrictive legislation, education could be a preventative measure used to curb adolescent gambling.

“A higher level of awareness would enable youths to face issues like gambling with their eyes wide open – they will have a rough idea of what they’re getting themselves into, and will have a rough idea of what to do if things go wrong,” she shares.