Over 4,000 teens treated for gambling addiction in 2024, up 3-fold since 2020

(123rf)

Teenage gambling addiction is becoming a severe issue in Korea, as an increasing number of teens are being treated for gambling addiction, including nine elementary school children last year.

A total of 4,144 teenagers in 2024 were treated at the Korea Problem Gambling Agency, an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, a report by Rep. Cho Gye-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea showed Thursday. Nine of the patients were under the age of 13.

Over four years, the number of teens treated for gambling addiction more than tripled from 1,286 in 2020 to 1,242 in 2021, 1,460 in 2022, and 2,093 in 2023.

"Teenage gambling addiction is no longer the issue of delinquent individuals, but a social disaster that can lead to crimes, unease within the community and even homes falling apart," Cho said, urging the state to systemize anti-gambling lessons at schools.

The KPGA last year surveyed 13,368 elementary (fourth through sixth grade), middle and high school students across the country. The March results showed that 4.3 percent of the respondents experienced some level of gambling.

The survey, which was the first on a state level, indicated that this was not a one-off experience for many teens. Some 19.1 percent of the respondents who said they had gambled before said they had been gambling consistently for the past six months.