Young gambling addicts: "I started when I was 15. When I lose, my character changes, I feel like shit"

Borja is a 22-year-old from Madrid, like every day, after his working day there will be a place where he will be received with a smile.

An Eden where there are no windows or clocks, but in which when one triumphs he becomes "the king of the world".

"Do you want something?", they ask him when they arrive;

as always, what augurs luck is "a bottle of water".

At that time the young man will already have 200 euros in his pocket that he will immediately use.

He will look around him and

It doesn't matter, he is in his comfort zone, comfortable, and facing what has accompanied him since he was 15 years old: a roulette wheel.

He starts to play.

Gambling in young people is today

.

Although the latest reform of the Government of the Community of Madrid has managed to eradicate the presence of minors in betting houses and gambling halls, the reality is that Madrid's adolescents continue to gamble.

Elena Díaz Aguilar, an expert psychologist in addiction intervention, explains that the measures have improved the situation, but "

", since those who played as minors continue to do so today, now, legal form.

"I started when I was 15 years old, the typical thing is that you don't want to go to class because you don't feel like going. That's how I started, and everyone else," says Borja.

The latest report on behavioral addictions indicates that

in person in the previous year.

Although this figure exceeds half of the population of said strip, the businessmen of the game sentence that these numbers do not indicate risk of addiction.

"There is no gambling problem. In addition, this is a sector that is highly regulated, there is no type of problem and there never has been," argues Iñaki Angulo, spokesperson for the Association of Gambling Workers of the Community of Madrid (ATJUCAM ).

On the other hand, the Madrid Association of Recreational Entrepreneurs (AMADER), based on data provided by the Community of Madrid, indicates that in 2018 there were 92 people enrolled in a Gambling Disorder Program, that is,

.

Now, "the figures are from people who assume they have an addiction."

A problem that not everyone admits.

"I would speak of 15 or 20% more," argues Díaz Aguilar.

a common profile

People are different, with their own particularities;

however, we share habits and routines according to our concerns.

Those youngsters interested in games of chance are not an exception, since they acquire habits from pre-adolescence that lead them to very similar profiles.

This is how it started, "I got up to go to school, I went to the school gate and I didn't feel like going in. At eight in the morning we made a little time,

", Borja confesses for the first time outside his close circle.

At first, the young man does not come alone.

"They usually go in a group, encouraged by other minors their age who have already done it or

", points out one of the therapy psychologists of the Association for the Prevention and Help of Gamblers (APAL), Ángela Ruiz Martínez.

In these first times in which the adolescent goes with friends, for leisure, and betting small amounts, he wins.

Yet the turning point occurs when winning becomes a necessity.

they are beginning to do it alone," says psychologist Díaz Aguilar.

And before it, the behavior of these young people changes.

"Today I go to the salon and I lose money. I'm not going to meet up with my friends, because I don't feel like doing anything. And with my parents, well, practically the same thing, I don't feel like talking,

. I behavior changes a lot," admits Borja.

Frustration is accompanied by a host of emotions that make the bettor unstable, "

," says Elena Díaz Aguilar.

In addition to the change in behavior, "school failure appears, and little by little they begin to

or trick them to get money and go to the bookmaker. In short, manipulative behavior, lies," explains the SALW therapist .

Nervousness and impatience make a dent in the profile of these adolescents.

"They usually end up

and discomfort on top," warns the expert psychologist in addictions.

Next, the step is usually aggressiveness.

But, what is the prelude to this reality?

Video games questioned

Some experts warn that the starting point of gambling addiction

For the first time, in 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) includes video game addiction in its Mental Disorders section in its International Classification of Diseases.

"The current profile of the gambling player is totally different from that of eight or ten years ago; now they are all young kids between 20-30 years old. They represent a profile that has already come out of playing video games,

, it is the training of a gambler but without money", explains Juan Carlos Gallego, president of APAL.

In front, the Spanish Association of Video Games (AEVI) totally distances itself from these statements, and describes them as a continuous attack that promotes the discredit of an entire industry.

"We reject the assimilation of video games and games of chance.

As a result of this type of statement, we fear that a sector, made up of an ecosystem with 18 million users in Spain, could be stigmatized," says José María Moreno, president of AEVI.

The psychologist Elena Díaz attends daily to minors addicted to games of chance, some of them also adept at video games.

"In the end, the video console is a game, gambling is a game of chance with bets, in video games the bet is not money; the bet is lives, points, candies. So it is true that

, because since that doesn't hurt them, since it's not pocket money it doesn't hurt them, their brain may be getting used

that is what happens in the brain in the part of the reward system with the videogames," says Díaz Aguilar.

However, the expert adds in her argument that "video games themselves are not a prelude to addiction to roulette and betting games,

Not setting limits and guidelines to the game itself."

At the same time, the psychologist warns of the need to establish control by parents over the adolescent in relation to game routines.

"Normally they are people who

So the child can play when and how he wants, for as long as he wants, with which there is no self-control, they do not learn to self-control, "suggests Elena Díaz.

Currently there is no clear scientific evidence that demonstrates a direct relationship between video games and games of chance, although "the main studies in this regard call for further investigation," acknowledges Moreno, president of AEVI.

In addition to the investigative field, addiction experts advocate for greater disclosure of the risk that misuse of electronic games can entail.

"

and since it is something that the minor can do under their responsibility, in their room on the computer... parents focus more on it as a way of leisure and when they begin to detect these signs it may be too late", argues the therapist Ángela Ruíz Martínez.

This is a possible prelude, intangible.

Now, does a young person find, during his daily routine, nearby stimuli that incite him to games of chance?

Non-profit organizations and neighborhood associations denounce that the proximity of betting houses and gambling halls

Proximity to schools

In 2019, the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (FRAVM) prepared a report on the territorial distribution and

and betting venues in the municipality.

In this document, prepared by Vicente Pérez Quintana, sociologist and head of urban planning and housing at the FRAVM, the relationship between betting houses and schools in Madrid was detailed.

Since then, since pre-pandemic time, a gambling regulation law has been approved, proposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and a decree that reforms the gambling law carried out by the Government of the Community of Madrid.

Despite the substantial improvements, the problem of the proximity of gambling and schools remains on the table.

"I think that even if the kid sees the bookmaker and does not enter, obviously if you go through a place constantly, you see little lights, soccer players, attractions and such, if you do not enter the house

. The proximity of the game venues to the schools seems to me to be a very worrying fact, yes", explains Pérez Quintana.

And it is that the report prepared resolves that, currently, in Madrid

.

In contrast, for gaming entrepreneurs this data is not relevant.

"If you end up with a game room, where you have an access control where you can't enter, it's because you can't enter, I don't care where the school is, 100 meters or 200. This opposition is absurd because if we have a access control where that person, who normally if he goes to the institute is under 18 years old, I ask for his DNI and he does not enter, well that's it, incitement 0", defends Iñaki Angulo, spokesman for ATJUCAM.

Users have another opinion.

"That is done on purpose, nothing more than to see it. It does not matter if they do not let minors enter now, in the institute, in high school there are already people with 18 years; then, you attract more clients. If they have it close they will go , and if they have it far away and 50 people don't see it, 10 go, but

, that's how it is," says Borja.

From the park to the bookmakers

The reality, according to specialists, is that young people "are changing the way they socialize. What we used to do before, go down to the park to sit on a bench, now stay in the bookmakers because

, and they also usually invite you to a drink, so they argue, it's their perfect plan," says Díaz Aguilar.

Of these teenagers, some may be the next Borja;

a young man addicted to roulette and gambling.

"Of course, I remember it and the light comes on in my head, I even salivate," he replies when we ask him what he feels when he hears the word roulette.

A young man, who also does not consider any type of rehabilitation.

"

", he comments upon learning that there are associations that can help.

The Community of Madrid has approved in April 2022 the Gaming Planning Decree that protects minors and other vulnerable groups, a document that obliges gaming venues close to schools to reinforce admission controls,

.

At the same time, at the local level, the Madrid Assembly1 is studying increasing the fines for entry of minors and vulnerable people from 9,000 to 600,000 euros;

the obligation to pay in cash;

and the presence of control by a natural person at the entrance of the premises.

None of the measures includes prevention programs for young people and adolescents, a fundamental aspect for the experts.

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