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September 23, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Students are illegally gambling online, getting around supposed age limits with ease and using phones to place bets while at school.<\/p>\n Social media gambling influencers, ads on games or streaming platforms, the ease of setting up betting accounts and the normalisation or parental facilitation of betting have contributed to a rise in teen gambling habits, experts say.<\/p>\n It\u2019s illegal for anyone to gamble under the age of 18, yet 2025 Australia Institute research<\/a> that analysed data from 2017, 2023 and 2024 found more than 902,000 Australians aged 12 to 19 gambled annually, enough to fill the MCG about nine times over. About 600,000 were aged between 12 and 17.<\/p>\n Monash University associate professor Charles Livingstone, a gambling researcher, said it was easy for teens to set up betting accounts, especially if they already had money from a part-time job.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you beg, borrow or steal somebody\u2019s ID, you can set up an account almost instantly,\u201d Livingstone said.<\/p>\n He called the online media presence of gambling promoters \u201cextraordinary at the moment\u201d, with social media influencers using gambling as \u201ctheir schtick\u201d to promote poker machines as well as illegal gambling sites, including offshore casinos that are unlicensed in Australia.<\/p>\n Livingstone said there were also \u201cweird little operators\u201d taking bets on school-level football games and on club-level soccer in suburban Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cAt every level you can think of, and a lot you can\u2019t, there is somebody trying to sell kids on gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack, 22, given a pseudonym as he asked to remain anonymous, went to a private school and said roughly 25 per cent of his year 12 peers were betting. He started gambling when he was about 16.<\/p>\n \u201cA mate had a big win. [I was thinking] that seems easy. That\u2019s when you start going along with it. You either win, and think it\u2019s easy, and then you lose and you start chasing that loss,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBoys punted at school \u2013 on our phones, in class, at lunchtime, just wherever.\u201d<\/p>\n His classmates weren\u2019t allowed phones in class but snuck them in. They made fake accounts under their names using false ages and deposited money but never verified their accounts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt sounds stupid \u2013 even if we won a lot of money, we couldn\u2019t withdraw it. We were just young and dumb. Not making the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n After he graduated, he put all of his money \u2013 $3500 \u2013 on one horse and lost it in one bet. That\u2019s when he knew he had to stop.<\/p>\n In June, a gambling website illegally soliciting bets on sporting clashes between Victoria\u2019s most elite private schools was reported to state and federal authorities.<\/p>\n How to talk to your children about gambling<\/p>\n The state government\u2019s Love the Game not the Odds campaign says attitudes to betting start developing well before someone is legally allowed to bet. It says it\u2019s important to have open conversations about gambling with your kids early. It\u2019s also important to tailor the message so it\u2019s relevant to them, chat in small doses, choose humour, listen to them and practise what you preach.<\/p>\n Here are a few conversation starters:<\/p>\n Do you think sports betting seems risky?Do you think people have to gamble to enjoy sports?What do you think about gambling?Have any of your friends ever gambled?<\/p>\n The Love the Game not the Odds campaign also recommends these talking points:<\/p>\n Gambling works on the rules of probability \u2013 the odds of winning don\u2019t change.There\u2019s no such thing as a sure bet. While a gambler\u2019s knowledge may increase, luck and other factors can always change the outcome more.Gambling ads make betting look like a fun game that everyone wins. But they don\u2019t show the risks.<\/p>\n For more advice or support on how to talk to children about gambling, visit Love the Game.<\/a><\/p>\n The Associated Public Schools group, which consists of 11 schools, including Geelong Grammar, Brighton Grammar and Scotch College, notified the state\u2019s gaming authority and the federal communications watchdog to investigate the site.<\/p>\n An Australian Communications and Media Authority spokesperson said it continued to investigate but had pulled the site down.<\/p>\n In 2023, the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission banned betting on any sport in which all the participants are minors.<\/p>\n Melbourne teachers Haydn Flanagan and Matthew Sekfy, who have been teaching for 25 years, said they had seen gambling become completely normalised among students in the past four or five years.<\/p>\n They have both found students looking at odds in classrooms, sneaking off to bet and openly discussing their wins. One boy cheered in class because he had won $500; another lost $1000.<\/p>\n Together Flanagan and Sekfy created Gambling Education Australia<\/a>, and they deliver preventive sessions to schools and sports clubs in Melbourne and Queensland.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no stigma whatsoever, no thought that it needs to be hidden,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cParticularly as the weekend comes up, they\u2019re talking about what they\u2019re gambling on, who they\u2019re backing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a rite of passage almost in some segments of the community. I\u2019d say particularly rife within the boys\u2019 schools.\u201d<\/p>\n He said parent-supported gambling was adding to the problem.<\/p>\n Related Article CQUniversity psychology lecturer Dr Cassy Dittman\u2019s research<\/a>, released in July, found parents were relatively unconcerned about gambling and that parental facilitation \u2013 where parents spoke positively about wins or placed bets on their children\u2019s behalf \u2013 was the strongest predictor of both teen gambling and gambling problems.<\/p>\n Alliance for Gambling Reform lived experience advocate Mark Kempster said that in the past 12 months the fastest rise in gambling he had seen was among teens rather than any other demographic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is more of the private school kids who tend to fall into it quicker and put themselves in bigger holes because of the money they have access to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kempster, who gives gambling harm talks in Tasmanian schools, said teachers called him at least monthly about problem gambling in their schools.<\/p>\n \u201cI think schools are unaware or naive as to how big a problem this is becoming across all schools,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Government school internet services are filtered to block access to gambling, pornography and other age-inappropriate content.<\/p>\n But Kempster said students were gambling at lunchtime, using VPNs or their own phones. He cited the example of a 17-year-old who had been left $20,000 by his late father, and gambled it all away.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was an emotional wreck.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Geelong Grammar student Henry Brayshaw, now 29, said gambling was an \u201cinstitution in the private school system\u201d.<\/p>\n Brayshaw\u2019s gambling addiction, which started in a pub when he was 16, led to a $180,000 debt at its worst.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like bread and butter for young men out of private school. Really parents with lots of money, kids with credit cards that have got no limits, no true understanding for the value of money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt [became] a deeply embedded, passed down through generations, cultural gambling problem from the moment I entered Geelong Grammar until I left in 2015.\u201d <\/p>\n Related Article He said some young gamblers didn\u2019t understand the depth of their addiction until they left school.<\/p>\n His father, James Brayshaw, a former host of The Footy Show and a sporting commentator, had voiced a 2021 Sportsbet campaign.<\/p>\n Henry Brayshaw said they\u2019d become estranged, but not because of gambling. \u201cI would love him to be an advocate against [gambling],\u201d he said. \u201cHe always told me … don\u2019t get hooked in or sucked in.\u201d<\/p>\n In term 2 this year, Geelong Grammar vice principal Tom Hall communicated with secondary school parents about the growing prevalence of sports gambling among young people and to \u201cmake [them] aware of a range of measures designed to support students and parents\u201d through education about gambling risks.<\/p>\n Gambling harm posters are hung around the school, and students are encouraged to speak with a trusted adult or the school\u2019s counselling team if they are concerned.<\/p>\n Livingstone said the number of gambling promotions on social media and by influencers was overwhelming, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority needed more resources to tackle the problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a major lapse in the regulatory system that this stuff just happens without anyone seemingly intervening in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ACMA issued a warning against a social media influencer for breaching online gambling rules in July. ACMA member Carolyn Lidgerwood said it should also serve as a warning to others.<\/p>\n Australians are banned from promoting illegal gambling services and can face fines of up to $59,400, or up to $2,475,000 if facilitating access through hyperlinks.<\/p>\n Related Article In August, the federal government passed laws that will restrict advertising related to licensed gambling operators on TV and online from January 1.<\/p>\n A Department of Education spokesperson said Victorian schools taught students about the risks of gambling by building an understanding of probability and chance, developing critical analysis skills of media such as gambling ads and promoting strategies for seeking help.<\/p>\n Schools can also access Be Ahead of the Game<\/a> to help young people understand the risks of gambling.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Henry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/aadb7dcfe23c0c8d6d0af877afb1cff55f00af2e.jpeg\")
Henry Brayshaw, a former Geelong Grammar student who started gambling at 16 and has now pulled himself out of a problem gambling habit.Jason South<\/p>\n![\"Social](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/e832cb0821d52abac9d183b4d1d126881485d289.jpeg\")
Social media gambling influencers have contributed to the problem.Artwork: Stephen Kiprillis<\/p>\n![\"Dataworks,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/360b3090b6f677c013a5d276aa83274de45e21f82299afdfe66b07f9907b3716.gif\")
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Henry Brayshaw says his gambling addiction resulted in a debt of $180,000 at its worst.Jason South<\/p>\n![\"Ethan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790119699_158_a8c24971bd0df8126fefc5d9b6f406e20e3d5b8e.jpeg\")
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Nicole Precel<\/a> is an education reporter at The Age. She was previously an audio video producer. She is also a documentary maker. Get in touch at nicole.precel@theage.com.auConnect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 23, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":["post-901843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}