'Rapid growth' in online gambling among Canadian teens is 'concerning': Expert
· Toronto Sun
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With the new school year for most students set to begin in two weeks, a new Centre for Addiction and Mental Health report is sounding the alarm on youth gambling, finding that one in 10 students have made online sports bets at least once last year despite age restrictions on betting sites.
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The finding comes from a comprehensive survey conducted by the CAMH last year and published Monday.
“Taken together, about one-in-eight (12%) students report any type of online gambling (online sports betting, online poker, online casino games) at least once in the past year,” the CAMH’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey also noted.
That figure is a sharp increase from the last survey the CAMH conducted two years ago, where it reported that 8% of students reported any online gambling.
The report also noted that the percentage of students reporting online sports betting in the past year has “significantly increased” since 2017, the first year it began monitoring the issue, jumping from 1% to 10% in 2025.
When youths were asked about gambling in general, 20% reported engaging in any type of gambling in the past year.
Almost a quarter (23%) of students reported seeing or hearing advertising for online gambling sites daily.
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“The rapid growth of online gambling among young people is really concerning,” said Dr. Peter Selby, principal investigator of CAMH’s INTREPID Lab, in a press release.
“The results raise important questions about how young people are able to access gambling products despite age restrictions, and about the influence that widespread gambling advertising and its normalization have on attitudes and behaviours,” said Selby, who is also a senior scientist and senior medical consultant at CAMH, and an expert in youth mental health and substance use.
“We need stronger measures to reduce youth exposure during a vulnerable time of brain development and better prevent the long-term impact of these trends,” Selby added.
Just over 11,000 students in grades seven to 12 across the province participated in the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey last year, which has been conducted every two years since 1977.
Participants had completed online questionnaires anonymously between December 2024 and June 2025.
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