Minister Won visits Korea Center on Gambling Problems on Tuesday

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung [Yonhap]
Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung [Yonhap]

A 17-year-old high school student, identified only as A, first tried illegal online gambling two years ago after a sunbae — an older schoolmate — urged him to give it a shot. What began with small bets quickly escalated, and after moving into sports betting and baccarat, he lost about 10 million won ($7,510). For roughly 25 days out of every month, A was consumed by gambling, unable to shake the belief that the only way to pay off his debts was to keep playing. Frequent absences and deteriorating relationships deepened the cycle until he was referred for counseling through the Korea Center on Gambling Problems.

Cases of teenagers falling into illegal online gambling are mounting. Because problem gambling inflicts serious harm not only on individuals but on families and society at large, the need for a robust support system to identify and help at-risk youth early is growing.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Tuesday it would strengthen cooperation among relevant agencies to address youth gambling problems across the full spectrum — from prevention through counseling and rehabilitation.

Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung visited the Korea Center on Gambling Problems in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday to discuss ways to deepen interagency collaboration on preventing and treating youth gambling addiction.

The ministry already screens for at-risk youth through its annual "Youth Media Use Habits Diagnostic Survey," conducted for first-year middle school and high school students, and provides initial counseling through youth counseling and welfare centers.

The visit was arranged in response to the worsening youth gambling problem, with the aim of strengthening ties with specialist organizations and identifying effective measures covering prevention, counseling and rehabilitation for youth cyber gambling.

The Korea Center on Gambling Problems was established under the Act on the Integrated Supervision of Speculative Business and is in effect the country's only national institution dedicated to treating gambling addiction.

Won also discussed ways to strengthen the "Youth Gambling Gatekeeper Training" program, which targets youth counselors and frontline workers. The program runs five times a year for a total of 250 participants, with two specialist instructors provided per session through collaboration with the center.

After the interagency discussions, Won toured the center's key facilities, including the 1336 gambling helpline, the central counseling center, the Haemilter rehabilitation space and the Gambling Ending Studio.

"We will continue to strengthen support for prevention, protection and recovery so that young people can be safely shielded from harmful environments such as gambling and grow up healthy," Won said.


kido@heraldcorp.com