The number of young people receiving treatment for gambling addiction has nearly tripled so far this year compared to six years ago, according to Wednesday’s data.
According to data from the Health Insurance Review and Evaluation Board released by Rep. Seo Dong, a total of 111 people under the age of 19 received treatment for gambling addiction from January to August this year, an increase of 2.8 times from 39 in 2017. increased to Yong of the Democratic Party of Korea.
This number has been steadily increasing since 2017, rising to 65 in 2018, 93 in 2019, 98 in 2020, and 127 in 2021.
It dropped slightly last year to 102, but rebounded to 111 in the first eight months of this year.
The number of youth receiving counseling for gambling-related problems reached 1,406 in the first eight months of this year, an almost 28-fold jump from 52 in 2015, according to data released by Seo.
He said seven children under the age of 14 committed gambling offenses last year, compared to just one in 2017.
Mr. Xu called on the government to strengthen preventive measures, saying, “Young people are increasingly exposed to illegal gambling in their daily lives, and they are not taking illegal gambling seriously.” (Union)
