Group requests for help doubled
Illegal online gambling is prevalent and the situation is cause for concern. A group found that the proportion of online gambling requests for help last year had doubled from the previous year. A survey conducted last month also showed that about 16% of respondents had participated in illegal gambling. For online gambling. In addition, up to 67% of the respondents did not know the penalty for participating in illegal gambling. The organization pointed out that the European Cup of Nations kicked off in the early hours of this morning (12th) Hong Kong time, calling on the police to step up efforts to combat illegal gambling activities and promote the message of "watch football and not gambling on football matches."
Now 19-year-old Woody grew up in a complete family environment. At the age of 17, he received advertisements on illegal online gambling sites on social networking sites and communication programs on his mobile phone. After gambling, he couldn't extricate himself, and began to overdraft credit cards and borrow money from financial companies for betting. He confessed that the mentality at the time was to "gamble big, win more, and you can buy new phones or designer bags when you win."
Because of losing more and losing less, he was finally introduced to borrow from loan sharks. He accumulated 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars in debt during two years of gambling. As most of the debt was borne by his family, his relationship with his family was broken, and he finally approached the Qingliang Center for help. He urged young people to "not participate in gambling out of curiosity, nor overestimate their own self-control. They should refuse gambling."
The Lutheran Youth Chamber of Commerce and the North District Youth Chamber of Commerce collected 330 online questionnaires from the 11th of last month to the 10th of this month. Among them, 190 people, about 57.6% said they had participated in gambling, and 22.2% of them increased their betting during the epidemic. For the amount or the number of bets, 55.8% said that during this period, the betting amount increased by about HK$1,000 or more, and 39.5% increased the number of bets more than 6 times. The organization is worried that the public will have wrong ideas and think that gambling is normal behavior.
The survey also found that about 16% of the respondents said they had participated in illegal gambling, of which 42% participated in illegal football gambling, and 18% participated in online casinos. Among them, 79.2% said they had been introduced to illegal gambling by friends. Overall, about 67% of people do not know the penalty for illegal gambling, and 69.8% have received information about online gambling platforms.
Zhou Yaying, director of the Lutheran Youth Center, said that in the center’s help-seeking cases, the proportion of online gambling has increased dramatically, from 6% in 2019 to 15.38% in 2020. She also mentioned that this year’s European Cup of Nations is a major event, and the recent publicity campaigns on illegal gambling and online gambling are even more blatant, urging the police to strictly enforce the law. The government should also strengthen public education and publicity on gambling prevention, especially targeting young people and The need of online culture has raised public awareness and consequences of illegal gambling penalties.
[TW]
19歲青年沉迷網上賭博欠債150萬元 團體接求助飆1倍
非法網上賭博盛行，情況令人關注。有團體發現去年網上賭博的求助比例，較前年急升1倍，而上月的一項調查亦顯示，約16%受訪者指曾參與非法賭博，其中最多人參與的是賭波，其次為網上賭博。另外，高達67%受訪者不清楚參與非法賭博的刑罰為何。機構指，歐洲國家盃已於香港時間今早(12日)凌晨開鑼，呼籲警察加強打擊非法賭博活動，並推廣「睇波不賭波」的訊息。
現時19歲的Woody在完整家庭環境長大，他在17歲時接收到於手機的社交網站及通訊程式中，有關非法網上賭博網站的廣告，被內容吸引，便在旁人的慫恿下參與非法網上賭博，其後不能自拔，開始透支信用卡及向財務公司借貸投注。他坦言，當時的心態是希望「賭大啲，贏多啲，贏錢就可以買新電話或者名牌袋」。
由於輸多贏少，他最後被介紹向高利貸借款，賭博兩年累積了150萬港元債務，由於大部分由家人承擔，導致他與家人的關係破裂，最後向青亮中心求助。他勸勉年輕人「不要因好奇參與賭博，亦不要高估自己嘅自制能力，應拒絕賭博。」
路德會青亮中心及北區青年商會於上月11日至本月10日間，收集330份網上問卷，當中190人、約57.6%稱曾參與賭博，當中22.2%在疫情期間增加了投注金額或投注次數，55.8%稱此段期間增加約1,000港元以上的投注額，39.5%增加6次以上的投注次數，該組織擔心市民大眾會產生錯誤想法，以為賭博是正常行為。
調查亦發現，約16%受訪者表示曾參與非法賭博，當中42%參與非法足球賭博，18%參與網上賭場。當中有79.2%表示經朋友介紹接觸非法賭博。整體而言，約67%人不知非法賭博刑罰，69.8%曾接收過有關網上賭博平台的訊息。
路德會青亮中心主任周雅瑩表示，中心的求助個案中，網上賭博的比例大輻上升，由2019年的6%增長至2020年的15.38%。她又提到，今屆歐洲國家盃是大型賽事，近期非法賭博及網上賭博的宣傳攻勢更是明目張膽，促警方嚴正執法，而政府亦應加強預防賭博公眾教育及宣傳，特別針對年輕人及網上文化的需要，提升公眾對非法賭博刑罰的認知度及後果。
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