A leading charity has warned that a seemingly harmless children’s game called “Penny Up” is causing fights and social divisions in school playgrounds across the country.
GambleAware says the name of the game can vary by region, but the rules are the same: several players each throw a coin against a wall and the person who bounces their coin back the furthest wins the lot.
“It might as well be called ‘two-pound-up’ because they’re using two-pound coins, or whatever they’ve got,” said Dr Jane Rigbye, a chartered psychologist, who is GambleAware’s director of education.
Advice: Crash course for teachers on the risks of gambling for pupils
Quick read: Think tank develops lessons to help pupils with gambling problems
Advice: Incorporate risk and uncertain outcomes into lessons and you’re on a winner
She added: “Even in primary schools, they’re playing it, and they’re losing all of their week’s pocket money. It can cause fights and it can lead to different social groups pitting against each other.
“For some children, it will be an activity they can control and for others, it will be really problematic. It might not sound like much, but losing a bus fare or dinner money is a level of harm for pupils, and the concern for me is what’s the harm that happens next?
“How does it develop someone’s life course? If someone develops a gambling problem as an adolescent, do they go through their life not developing social relationships, not holding down a job or not saving money, and does that mean their life outcomes are potentially at detriment?”
The charity is among those now calling for more education in schools about the dangers of gambling.
It comes as latest figures from the Gambling Commission show that almost one in 25 pupils is now either a problem gambler or at risk of becoming one - compared to one in 45 in 2017.
Former gambling addict Paul Buck, of the Epic Risk Management consultancy, who gives talks about gambling in schools, says the lack of education about gambling combined with an increase in adverts for gambling on TV and in sport could create a further rise in problems gamblers among children.
“It’s like cigarette companies having advertising all over Grand Prix cars but there being no education about smoking,” he said.
But Buck, who served 11 months in prison for offences committed to fund his gambling, says gaming sites such as Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga are a problem for children even though they don’t involve gambling.
“Children can get near-miss sensations and the same emotions a gambler gets even though they’re not losing anything,” he said.
“They start to become psychologically enveloped and that can take hold later on, because when it comes to gambling it’s not just a financial addiction.”
You can read more about the extent of gambling among pupils and the dangers it poses in this week’s Tes magazine, available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.
