According to the ESTUDES survey, carried out among adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age in the Balearic Islands, 7.4% play with money on the Internet.
The Balearic Islands, through the Directorate General for Public Health and Participation, has joined the Ministry of Health’s campaign “The most important thing is not to participate” for the prevention of gambling. This action is part of the Addictions Plan of the Balearic Islands (PADIB) on the occasion of the celebration today, 29th October, of the No Gambling Day. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the risks of certain games.
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According to the results of the ESTUDES survey (Survey on drug use, aimed at students enrolled in educational centres between 14 and 18 years of age), in the Balearic Islands, 7.4% of those surveyed gamble with money over the Internet. This is more prevalent among males than females.
In addition, 15.20% of those surveyed have gambled with money both in person and online, a fact that is more common among men than among women, although the difference is much smaller.
Becoming addicted as an adolescent can be a risk factor for a poorer prognosis in the treatment of this addiction. That is why it is very important to promote preventive programmes from the age of 15 and within the stages of secondary education, baccalaureate and training cycles.
The Directorate General of Public Health wants to send out a series of messages and recommendations to prevent the appearance of a mental disorder such as pathological gambling, which is the result of addiction to gambling.
In the different gambling games, the most normal thing is to lose, as they are all based on the theory of probability.
When gambling becomes problematic, it is not only money that is lost, but also family, work, relationships, self-esteem, and confidence….
It is essential that administrations ensure the protection of minors by implementing regulatory and control measures.
As for minors, it is important to educate them in effort and not in the immediacy of the reward.
It is important that families carefully monitor the activities that minors carry out with their electronic devices (this is not an invasion of privacy, it is to protect the minor).
Monitor spending with electronic banking devices.
Adults in the child’s environment must be a point of reference: family, educators, and society …..
Preventive actions
Among the preventive actions carried out by the Directorate General of Public Health and Participation in the educational centres of the Balearic Islands, the following programmes stand out:
SE-TIC: a bank of tools for the proper use of digital technologies, aimed at primary and secondary school pupils, where work is done on the risks that young people may encounter in the virtual world, including access to online games and digital transactions.
The Ibiza Council’s “Control yourself” programme: aimed at primary school pupils, it addresses the risks associated with the use of digital technologies and provides advice for families.
This year, as a result of the training action, the LUDENS gambling addiction prevention programme has been added to the range of school preventive programmes, aimed at pupils (aged 16 and over) in the 4th year of ESO, vocational training and baccalaureate.
The programme “Si lo tienes claro, ¡elige!” is an addiction prevention project at the UIB, which consists of a training course specialising in substance and behavioural addictions, as well as carrying out different preventive and awareness-raising activities and campaigns on the campus itself, together with a free advice and care service for students in this area, in coordination and collaboration with the Office of Healthy and Sustainable Universities of the University of the Balearic Islands.
Training actions
With regard to training actions related to this subject, the PADIB has organised training divided into three modules: the first on basic knowledge, epidemiology, etc., which is more introductory, aimed at all social and health care and education professionals, The second is of a more preventive nature, aimed at professionals who intervene in the educational field for the application of the LUDENS programme (programme for the prevention of gambling addiction), and the last module, aimed more at professionals who carry out treatment, GAMBLER (protocol for the behavioural-cognitive treatment of online gambling addiction). The Regional Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, through the Directorate General for Early Childhood, Innovation and the Educational Community, has collaborated in this training activity.
This training activity, which began on 18 October and is scheduled to finish at the end of November, has 47 people enrolled. The teacher for this course is Professor Mariano Choliz, a lecturer in the Department of Basic Psychology at the University of Valencia and an expert in this subject.