15.2% of young gamblers have already thought about suicide because of their gambling.
- One in ten young people subscribe to sports betting, a proportion which rises to one in four among men aged 18-25.
- Among young people, sports betting can have a harmful impact on mental health: anxiety, stress, suicidal thoughts, etc.
- To address this problem, the Seine-Saint-Denis department has launched a new prevention campaign aimed at young people.
As the Olympic Games are in full swing, the Seine-Saint-Denis department is recalling in a press release the harmful impacts that sports betting can have on the mental health of young people.
41.7% of young punters have already felt stress and anxiety
“According to the first results of the PARIJEUNES* survey, one in ten young people subscribe to sports betting, a proportion that rises to one in four among men aged 18-25. These are considerable figures, especially when you know that one in four punters loses more than 100 euros per week,” can be read in the document sent to the editorial offices.
According to the work of sociologist Thomas Amadieu, “Sports betting has already caused health problems, including stress and anxiety, to 41.7% of punters. 15.2% of punters have even thought about suicide because of their gambling,” the text continues.
Beyond the damage to their mental health, the most common harms cited by young punters are getting into debt (16.3%), causing stress to loved ones (16%) and having relationship problems with them (10.2%).
Sports betting: a new prevention campaign
“A territory at the heart of the organization of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Seine-Saint-Denis, the youngest department in France, is a privileged target for sports betting operators who do not hesitate to exploit the imagination and linguistic codes of young people through incentive, sophisticated and attractive advertising”, deplore Magalie Thibault, vice-president in charge of health, Zaïnaba Said-Anzum, departmental councilor delegated to sport and Stéphane Trousselpresident of the Seine-Saint-Denis department.
In order to stem the phenomenon, the department has launched a new prevention campaign among young people. “After an initial action of this type in 2022, the department is renewing its commitment around three axes: the finalization of the study cited above on the use of sports betting among young people aged 13 to 25 in Seine-Saint-Denis, the development of prevention tools and the deployment of a new, mainly digital communication operation”, officials say.
“The latter takes up the Winamax slogan ” The most important thing is to win » to transform it into ” The hardest thing is to lose everything »“, they specify.
*Conducted by sociologist Thomas Amadieu with young people from Seine-Saint-Denis aged 13 to 25.
