"Want to try it too?"...Shocking case of a student who started gambling in 5th grade

[The Financial News] The rate of gambling experience among teenagers in Seoul has risen noticeably over the past year. There is growing concern as the age at which they first start gambling has dropped to the upper grades of elementary school.
On the 28th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) released the results of the "2025 Youth Gambling Survey," conducted from October 27 to December 9 last year on 34,779 students in Seoul.
According to the survey, 2.1% of teenagers had experienced gambling, up from 1.5% the previous year. Boys accounted for 69.9% of those with gambling experience, while girls made up 30.1%. The most common grade for starting gambling was fifth grade in elementary school (14.1%), showing that the starting age has fallen compared with the previous year, when the most common starting point was first year of middle school.
Students who had witnessed gambling accounted for 20.9%. This is more than double the 10.1% recorded in the previous survey, which covered 10,685 respondents.
The most common reason for starting to gamble was encouragement from friends or peers, at 40.3%. This was followed by recommendations from acquaintances (21.2%) and exposure to online advertisements such as on social media or streaming platforms (18.6%).
Most teenagers who had gambled did so online (76.2%). Smartphones were the most frequently used device or venue for gambling, at 64.6%.
As for how they raised gambling funds, 76.2% used their own allowance or savings. Other sources included parents’ or family members’ bank accounts or cards (8.7%), small mobile payments (4.6%), friends’ or others’ accounts or proxy deposits (3.8%), part-time job income (3.6%), and illegal means such as extortion, fraud, or school violence (2.8%).
Among those who had gambled, 13.8% said they had gone into debt because of gambling. To repay these debts, many asked their parents or family for help (15.1%) or borrowed from acquaintances (13.9%). Some also resorted to illegal methods such as scamming through secondhand goods transactions (2%), using illegal lenders (1.4%), or extortion and violence (1.3%).
Among respondents with gambling experience, 51.4% said they are not currently gambling, and 39% said they intend to stop.
Based on the survey results, SMPA plans to run an "intensive prevention and management period for youth gambling" from the winter vacation through the early new semester, from February to April.
SMPA will also work with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) to activate School Bell, an online system that provides schools and parents with real-time information on juvenile crime victimization and response guidelines. In cooperation with relevant agencies, the police will push to block illegal gambling websites. For teenagers already involved in gambling, the response will focus on connecting them with counseling and treatment services.
Once the new semester begins, school police officers will provide tailored preventive education at schools and universities considered to be at high risk for student gambling.
newssu@fnnews.com Reporter Kim Su-yeon Reporter