Study links parental gambling habits to higher teen betting rates in Australia

Research by CQUniversity scholars finds that parents who gamble or involve their children in betting significantly increase teenage gambling participation.

Researchers at CQUniversity's Appleton Institute and Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory examined how parental behavior influences teenage gambling, publishing their results in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction and the Journal of Gambling Studies. They identified several parental actions—talking about personal wins, involving teens in lottery number selection, placing bets on their behalf, and allowing use of online accounts—as common and linked to increased teen gambling.

The study concluded that such facilitative behavior is the most powerful factor predicting risky gambling among adolescents. Morgan Harrington of the Australia Institute described the trend as part of a wider normalisation of gambling driven by pervasive advertising and easy online access. A Department of Social Services spokesperson noted government measures like mandatory identity verification for online betting accounts and a new public awareness campaign targeting young people.