Gambling continues to be a popular activity among students all over the globe. With technological innovations and developments, this popular pastime is gaining momentum.
Some of these innovations include increased accessibility of hospitality services and gambling itself. Hence, we want to break down common online gambling patterns among students and show what impact it has on them.
Student Life and Gambling
Gambling is prevalent in universities. Insights gained from college students or high school degrees show they prefer online casino games, such as poker, slots, and tables, to reduce stress and social anxiety.
Part of the reason why online gambling may be more popular than its offline counterpart amongst students is due to the ease to access of casino games as well as a lack of digital activation. With the help of the gurus from Online Casino Aussie, even gamblers who have just started exploring the world of casino sites will find everything easy.
Positive Implications
Firstly, let’s understand the benefits students typically feel from gambling activity. But before we get to it, it is crucial to understand that gambling can be positive for some and negative for others. Thus, many low-risk or non-problem gamblers may consider it as escapism and a great social experience. Meanwhile, the process could bring bad emotions in this regard as students become moderate-risk or problem gamblers.
Escapism
Online gambling is widely considered as one of the forms of escapism, a chance for students to try and forget the pressures brought on by being at university. While some students may binge-watch or read comfort books, others opt for gambling.
Social Experience
For many low-risk or non-problem gamblers, the social factor of gambling is seen as a perk to their academic experience. Many studies show that 40% or more of students who are not addicted to gambling consider it as a fun activity, which gives them a sense of enjoyment in this regard.
Negative Implications
On the other side of the coin, online gambling, like all other activities, comes with risks. The potential dangers associated with gambling may be high for students with compulsive types of behavior. Thus, it is crucial to raise awareness of gambling’s negative impacts in the first place and help problem gamblers to cope with them.
Financial Pressures
Similarly to all players, students tend to get trapped in a vicious cycle of gambling activity as they look for ways to win huge money to afford themselves a better university life and to cover their costs of living. However, with such an approach, they ultimately end up chasing their losses, which, in turn, will lead to financial debts getting out of control.
Solution: Organizing workshops oriented on how students might better manage their finances, combined with precautions based around the dangers of gambling to one’s money, could help to see a reduction in financial pressures of these activities to the front of the students’ minds.
Academic Experience
Gambling is the synonym for experiencing a full range of various emotions, from excitement and exhilaration to disappointment and frustration. It is no stretch of the imagination to say that students who gamble are likely to harm academic performance.
According to a full insight report from YGAM, one in seven high-risk gamblers say they have a negative implication on their overall academic experience. Moreover, 55% of this group state that they have seriously contemplated dropping out of college compared to just 31% of low-risk punters and 35% of non-problem ones.
Solution: Providing academic support or increasing awareness of such support could reduce certain signs of anxiety about university performance, academic pressures, and uncertainty about the future. It is crucial to motivate students to develop the requisite study skills, which will make them more confident about the study material they are working on.
Gambling Addiction
It is difficult to assign certain patterns of players who may get trapped into addiction. However, it is clear that many compulsive punters may struggle with potential financial difficulties and unhappiness at university.
Solution: Try to reduce or minimize gambling adverts, so those most at risk of problems are less likely to fall into temptation once again. It is also worth emphasizing the importance of responsible gambling to protect problem gamblers from being impulsive with the decisions they make. Helping to set limits on the use of gambling activities could help to see a reduction in financial pressures as well.