York Council’s Director of Public Health Peter Roderick said access to bets via smartphone apps and young people exposed to gambling ads are behind the trend.
Officials said the local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is struggling with the consequences of family gambling addiction and calling for better education and advertising crackdowns.
Roderick’s comments follow this year’s publication of an annual report focusing on the health and well-being of young people in York.
The Next Generation York Report said gambling has emerged as a real, major threat to the physical and mental health of young people.
It is estimated that 16% of York’s youth are gambling, and a quarter of those who take away their money without permission to spend it is gambling.
Almost 15% were in conflict with friends and family over gambling.
Roderick said the rise in gambling among young people followed the relaxation of regulations under the then new labor government in the 2000s.
He told LDRS he supported restrictions on tobacco and fast food gambling ads, and the latter restrictions are expected to come into effect in October.
Peter Roderick, Director of Public Health at York Council. The photo is from York Council
Roderick said: “When the Gambling Act was liberalised in 2005, all of the talks at the time were about super casinos.
“But the government at the time didn’t expect the emergence of smartphones, and we didn’t expect that all of us could essentially have a super casino in our pocket.
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“Since then, the industry has blossomed, revenues have risen year-on-year, with the number of people experiencing gambling-related harms.
“The number of gambling ads you see is really noticeable and it has an impact on children.
“There are match bets and in-app purchases in games that are not different from gambling. These are things that companies are addictive and most people do on their phones now, not people who go to high street betting shops.
“The impact we can measure on youth is at the tip of the iceberg.
“There are stories of York kids who say that dads have gone home and lost 150,000 pounds because about 1-2% of the population have gambling issues.
“The council has some authority over granting a gambling license to facilities, so we haven’t discussed this issue enough and we need space to call it.
“We need to get in really early by educating and supporting young people and talking with them about gambling, and I think we need to crack down on advertising just like we did with cigarettes.
Nationally, 27% of young people spent their money on gambling until November, according to a report by the Gambling Committee.
Industry regulators said the most common type of gambling among young people is arcade machines such as penny pushers, betting with friends and family and playing cards.
If a customer appears to be under the age of 25 from August under the new rules, a gambling facility will be required to check the age of the customer.
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) industry group has pledged £10 million to work under age gambling and reduce the amount of advertising seen by young people by 97%.
That £10 million fund is spent on programs that educate young people on gambling issues.
BCG Chair Michael Dugar said the members have a zero-tolerance attitude towards bets under age.
