The organizations have cautioned adults not to use lottery tickets as holiday gifts as they could lead to pathological behavior later in life and “normalize” gambling in a way that pushes kids to develop an addiction.
Keep Tradition Going But Don’t Harm Children
The North Carolina Education Lottery executive director Mark Michalko said that while gifting lottery tickets was something that the lottery wanted to keep going, the organization was committed to making sure that such gifts did not end up with underage individuals. Michalko said:
We encourage the public to join us in helping to remind folks that lottery games are not for children under 18.
The North Carolina Education Lottery executive director Mark Michalko
The two partners are joining more than 100 lotteries and organizations worldwide to promote the same message as part of the “Gift Responsibly 2022” campaign. Among those is Jackpocket.com, an app that makes the purchase of lottery tickets frictionless.
The NCPG actually launched the campaign earlier in December and has already seen consistent interest from lottery bodies and partners determined to ensure that minors are not gifted tickets.
Commenting on the campaign, Keith Whyte, NCPG’s executive director, welcomed the interest shown by lotteries and said that problem gambling has become a significant and growing public health issue that needs to be addressed.
Children Pay the Cost of Adults’ Foolishness
Lottery tickets, explained Whyte, are never an appropriate gift for a child. Sheila Moran, a representative of 1-800 GAMBLER cited data by the NCPG according to which between 4-5% of children have a gambling disorder, with another 13-14% on the cusp of developing a more serious problem with gambling.
In a survey conducted by the Problem Gambling Help Network of West Virginia, 700 middle and high school students were surveyed to help better chart the problem and establish its genesis and development of problem gambling in those age groups.
Out of the 700 respondents, 41 said that they gambled often and 67 confirmed that they would want to stop gambling, but they were not quite sure how. The “Gift Responsibly 2022” campaign is meant to help address these issues before they begin to manifest in young children who may suffer long-term problems as a result of being handed lottery tickets in their formative years.