THE ACT Gambling and Racing Commission is funding a study into online betting and gambling habits of young people in Canberra.
Lead researcher Dr Aino Suomi, from the ANU, described online gambling as an “ever evolving, fast-moving space”.
“We’ll be focusing on young people aged 18 to 25, which will help us better understand some of the pathways to gambling and how we might help people before they experience gambling harm down the track,” Dr Suomi said.
“We know sports betting in particular is a big part of online gambling for this age group.
“It’s the only legal online gambling product in Australia, and incredibly easy to access.
“We’re keen to understand more about how and why young people are engaging with this kind of betting – whether they’re more likely to do it while watching the game with mates or as a solo activity.”
The researchers said they wanted to hear from participants who wager, bet or gamble online, or spend money on gambling-like features in video games. The study will involve around 50 in-depth interviews with both young people who gamble online and adults such as parents or teachers who play an important role in their lives.
Results will be published later this year and will help inform new public health initiatives targeting gambling harm in the ACT.
Who can be trusted?
In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.
If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.
Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.
Thank you,
Ian Meikle, editor
![Teacher Vanessa Jones has been living in Higgins since 2001, and while she loves the area, she says she is “fed up” with the neglectful ACT government.
The Higgins shops have been completely abandoned, says Vanessa, preventing the opportunity for residents to have a community-centred space to socialise.
They only received bins nine months ago, she says, and requests for a water station and repairs to the bus station have gone unanswered.
“It’s very, very slow,” says Vanessa.
“I asked for the zebra crossing on Fullagar [Crescent] to be repainted, and we had to wait about six or nine months.
“That’s just such a long time… we pay a lot of rates.”
Vanessa says assistance from the government only seems to go to communities with time-rich and assertive communities, leaving places such as Higgins, where the majority of households have both adults working full-time and English may not be the first language of the family, at an automatic disadvantage.
“If you’ve got two people working, paying a mortgage, raising two or three kids, they don’t have the time,” says Vanessa.
Vanessa says the lack of attention quieter places such as Higgins is receiving is starting to look a lot like favouritism.
Read the full article on our website citynews.com.au
#canberra #canberranews](https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Leave a Reply