An elementary school student's bet is 5 million won.Lack of preventive education

Exposure of gambling methods and site-containing images without adult authentication
Juvenile gambling charges criminal charges if the stakes exceed 5 million won
Another crime, including school violence to raise gambling funds, was committed
We've got a pan-government response team, but there's no tangible result.

[Anchor]
While the problem of online gambling among teenagers is getting more serious, recently, even elementary school students have been caught gambling with millions of won in stakes.

In most cases, illegal gambling sites are entered through SNS, but school education for prevention is not properly conducted.

I'm reporter Yeom Hye-won.

[Reporter]
If you type "Baccarat" on SNS, this many videos will be searched.

It explains how to gamble, and the comments also show the address of an illegal online gambling site.

The problem is that there is no adult certification process, so children and teenagers can enter with just one click.

With this ease of access, most children fall into online casinos these days.

Four years ago, the proportion of Sports Toto or games was high, but illegal gambling in online casinos has increased significantly throughout the period when people did not go to school due to COVID-19.

This year, the number of cases detected up to August is more than 1,500, up from a year last year.

Because it is an illegal gambling, teenagers are naturally punished if they are caught by the police.

If you are a first-time offender and the stakes are less than 500,000 won, it is a courtesy call, but if the stakes are more than 5 million won, you will be prosecuted, and the number of such teenagers has increased nearly five times from five years ago.

This year alone, 45 boys aged 10 to 13 were also caught.

Children in illegal gambling also commit second and third crimes, such as school violence, to raise money.

Last year, the government set up a youth gambling pan-government response team, but there was no tangible result.

In the school field, unlike smoking and drugs, gambling does not require preventive education.

[Shin Mi-kyung / Director of the Korea Gambling Problem Prevention and Healing Center (last 15th): The most pending issue is that preventive education is done at the discretion of the principal, but gambling education is not necessarily mandatory, so the number of hours and methods are not set right now. That's why the cooperation of the Ministry of Education is very urgent.]

The problem of youth gambling is snowballing, with crime of lending gambling funds at high interest rates also prevalent.

It is most urgent to create a system that leads to prevention education, crackdown, and rehabilitation treatment.

I'm Yum Hyewon of YTN.

Photographer: Hong Seong-no
Design: Lee Na-young