Program Aims to Teach Parents Early Warning Signs of Dangerous Gaming Habits

• Parents will learn what signs to look for with games that expose their children to gambling

• Around 10 of 22 games met criteria for gambling

• Children have ability to cash out prizes for real money

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Victorian parents are being taught what to look for to reduce their children's risk of developing dangerous habits around online gaming and exposure to gambling.

The Australian government funded the initiative tominimise their kids' risk of exposure to gambling content.  Sessions will be held at various schools to educate parents on how to spot signs and prevent cyberbullying associated with certain games. 

Around 10 of 22 (or nearly half) of the most popular games met the criteria for gambling.

"We're really trying to give parents the knowledge and skills we think they will find useful to help their kids navigate the online gaming world," Shane Lucas, chief executive of the Responsible Gambling Foundation, said.

FIFA, Assassin's Creed Origin, Halo Wars 2 and Need for Speed Payback were each identified as meeting the gambling criteria.

"There are warning signs around the strategies and the tactics that these games might use … they certainly allow some of those young players to cash out their winnings for real money," he added.

From ABC News Australia:

Alex Russell, a gambling research fellow at CQ University, said risky elements inside of games including small transactions to buy virtual goods — most commonly known in the gaming sphere as "skins" — could be sold outside of games on gambling websites to adults.

"The most troubling aspect out of this is that online gambling websites have popped up that accept skins as currency," Dr Russell said.

"So these things that kids are winning in the games, some of them are worth quite a lot of money."

Age verifications are often poorly regulated as well, allowing children to gain access by simply ticking a box that identifies them as being over 18 years old.

eSports betting on sportsbook sites has become so big that some companies are now specializing in it while others prominently feature eSports links on their home pages.  

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com