Council members of the capital of Misiones propose a comprehensive approach to combat the problem.
Argentina.- With the goal of implementing tools to prevent childhood gambling addiction in Posadas, the City Council of the capital of Misiones is moving forward with a project that proposes the implementation of a program that contributes to the fight against this issue, through a comprehensive approach.
Yesterday, Thursday, March 13, in the second regular session of the Council, councilors referred a project to committee to implement in the city the "Prevention Program on the risks of online gambling" as a tool aimed at addressing gambling addiction, primarily at early ages.
This initiative, mainly aimed at girls, boys, and adolescents, proposes to implement prevention, awareness, and sensitization campaigns on the addiction to online gambling; promote the application of preventive measures and early detection to prevent addiction; assist those who develop gambling addiction, and support their families through treatments and rehabilitation therapies necessary to regain socio-emotional balance.
According to the justification of the project, today, despite gambling being prohibited for minors under 18, online access through technological devices has become common among children and adolescents since the beginning of the pandemic and confinement.
That is why the Posadas councilors will study this initiative that will provide tools to detect in children and adolescents the impulse to gamble and address the problem correctly.
In November last year, the Ombudsman's Office of the city of Posadas, together with the Provincial Institute of Lottery and Casinos (IPLyC Misiones) and the Provincial Institute of Statistics and Censuses (IPEC), presented the results corresponding to the Survey on Gambling in Adolescents (EJAA).
Among the highlighted data, it is noted that one out of three schooled adolescents in Posadas participated in gambling. On the other hand, two out of five of those who played had their first experiences between the ages of 10 and 14, and the majority (6 out of 10) were introduced to gambling through social networks, advertising, and influencers. The sample included public and private secondary schools in the capital of Misiones, and about 4,337 young people between the ages of 12 and 21 answered the questions, providing a first approximation to concrete data on this problem in the provincial capital.
The president of IPLyC, Héctor Rojas Decut, highlighted the commitment of the institution to Responsible Gaming and recalled that in 2024 the institution filed more than 400 complaints against illegal sites, noting that authorized platforms do not allow access to minors. He also added that they permanently carry out activities aimed at awareness and prevention, in addition to control and reporting of clandestine sites.
With the aim of increasing awareness about digital gambling addiction and other dangers in the virtual environment, this week students from the Provincial School N° 1 Martín de Moussy in Posadas participated in the workshop "Betting on Prevention", an initiative organized by Silicon Misiones and the NGO Faro Digital.
It is worth noting that Silicon Misiones and Faro Digital are developing a multidisciplinary approach that involves various institutions, such as the Judiciary, the Ombudsman's Office, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Labor. The goal is to coordinate efforts and strategies among these institutions to make prevention more effective and maximize the available resources.
Additionally, today, Friday, March 14, a new training session aimed at officials and public policy designers will be held, with the aim of providing tools to address the problem from different sectors.
