The number of underage gamblers is still too high
14th December, 2009
Underage gambling has always been a significant problem and a very big cause for concern, especially after results in May showed almost all the shops that were tested failed to turn away underage gamblers.
Following on from the tests in May, and having continued to implement effective controls, the Gambling commission’s watchdog carried out another check on bookies, consisting of test purchase visits that account for 80% of betting shops in the UK. The results showed that 65% of the 160 bookies tested identified the age and acted accordingly.
Whilst this is a fantastic improvement on the attempt to stop underage gambling, it still leaves a considerable amount of under 18’s allowed to wager with their cash.
The Gambling Commissions highlighted the fact that it regularly carries out test purchases to enable them to monitor the ongoing problems and expressed their thoughts on the reactions to the previous tests explaining, “The Gambling Commission is pleased that operators have responded quickly to the action we took earlier this year. However, young people under 18 are not permitted to gamble and there must be no let up in the effort to improve. Test purchase exercises by both the Gambling Commission and licensing authorities will continue.”
It should be mentioned that award winning bookies Ladbrokes came out on top with the tests having 74% of underage gamblers being refused. We look forward to further results!
By Gina
