Hi there. In this education post, I would like to highlight teaching kids the dangers of gambling.
It does seem that there is more financialization and gambling. In my area, there are noticeably more Youtube gambling ads. New companies like Kalshi and Polymarket have betting markets where people can bet on political events, sports matches, economic events, weather and so on. There are just more options to gamble money and put hard earned money at risk.
What Is Gambling? Teaching Kids Basic Probability
According to the Merriam Webster site, this is the definiton of gambling.
the practice or activity of betting : the practice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet
You pay money to try to win more money. But you could also lose a lot. There are no guarantees.
Head Or Tails: A Simple Case
One of the simplest probability cases that a kid can learn is through a fair two sided coin. One side is heads and one side is Tails. Each side has a 50% chance of being shown after a coin flip.
Six Sided Dice
A six sided dice is a small cube with six sides. The numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Each number has a 1 out of 6 chance of being shown on the top of the dice.
The above two are simple probability cases. Games of chance and gambling have more complicated rules, payouts and randomness involved. Winning tends to be tougher in more complex games. As winning is tougher, there will be a few lucky winners but gambling players are more likely to lose.
Dangers of Gambling
Whether it is taught at home or at school (if they teach it), teaching the dangers of gambling is really important. If there is too much gambling from a family member, it can cause a great deal of damage financially, in relationships, work and health.
What attracts some people into gambling is the chance of making lots of money from a short event. There is an appeal to trying to get rich quick and retire early. What is ignored is the amount of risk involved. Trying to win a million dollars by spending one hundred thousand dollars on casino slots is a lot of money being wasted. That 100 000 dollars could be used to pay down debt, buy a car or two, invest in a child's education and so on.
A more extreme case would be trying to borrow money from a bank or other people to gamble. That thinking of the next one is a winner is a dangerous idea. The likelihood of winning a casino game is designed to be low. A casino may even give you free plays to get people sucked into gambling. Self control and discipline is needed so the person can say enough is enough, no more playing.
Gambling Elements In Videogames, Non-Casino Products, Mystery Products
Gambling is often seen as something that is in casinos, sports betting and lotteries. There are gambling elements in video games, trading cards like Pokemon, One Piece, Magic The Gathering and in mystery gift boxes. Anything that requires payment for an unknown item until its reveal has gambling elements. These type of products do try to attract kids whose brains are not fully developed. Their emotional regulation is not well developed either which makes them targets for products that have gambling like elements.
With random products, loot boxes and trading cards, youths (and even adults) have to understand and respect the idea and existence of probabilities. With mystery boxes, the items in the boxes may be worth less than what you paid for. Or it could be worth more. For a 20 dollar booster trading card pack, there are no guarantees that one will get a shiny card. Card pack designers may have the pull rate of a shiny card at 1 in 20 packs or 5%. Those who keep buying packs until they get their chase card will see themselves draining their wallets pretty fast. That money can be used for debt repayment, food, savings, investing, etc.
Setting a financial budget, limit or stop condition for kids does help. It prevents the youth from getting too addicted.
Thank you for reading.