Addiction is a chronic mental disease where a person’s daily life is interrupted if they stop doing what their fixation wants them to do. It is a very difficult thing for anyone to go through, especially minors. 

Gambling addictions are extremely detrimental because they can stimulate the brain’s reward system such as drugs or alcohol can. Teenage gambling addictions affect the minds of teenagers as it conquers the ability to make rational decisions. Gambling addictions are much worse for minors to accumulate because they tend to be more vulnerable to addiction, and the consequences will often be more severe. 

Gambling addictions are also dangerous for minors to have because it could have a damaging financial impact on their beginning stages of life. Between school and extracurricular activities, minors may not have time for a job. And if they do, it may be hard to save up a large amount of money due to minimum wage, or how much money they spend.

According to policyadvice.net, “The average saving of an 18-year-old is around $1,000.”

Minors already don’t have much money in their savings, and having a gambling addiction could lead to them losing that money, and even more on top of what they started with. This could have a detrimental effect on where/if they go to school, where they live, what they eat and how they live overall. Gambling would put a dramatic pause in their lives, and it would be harder to catch up to others later in life after recovery. 

Gambling addictions for minors will also harm them mentally. Psychreg.org is a website that discusses topics such as addiction, what it is, the risks and dangers of it and how to overcome it. 

“Children who develop gambling addiction will struggle to develop emotionally. Children often develop problematic gambling patterns to deal with pressure from school, home and their social lives. The early addiction leads to damage in later life,” psychreg.org states.

With gambling being so easily accessible due to the internet, minors can quickly and easily find a gambling game on their phone. It doesn’t have to be real money they are betting, but they will associate the fun they have while playing that game with gambling. When they are older, the gambling problem may get worse without them even noticing, due to them starting to use the actual money they earn. 

Gambling for minors is a huge issue not just because addiction is worse for them compared to adults, but also because it could lead to a later start in life, a stunt in emotional/mental growth and it could lead to other addictions later in life. Gambling can be considered as a gateway drug to other bad paths of life. It is crucial to help minors going through this addiction rather than sitting back and watching because it is so damaging for them.