Kids raiding houses to feed online habit

Young people are being driven to break into neighbours' houses or stack up bills on their parents' credit cards so they can gamble online, says the Problem Gambling Foundation.

Research director Phil Townshend said a record number of people were seeking help from the foundation for online gambling addictions, and the problem was set to spread among young people.

In the last quarter, 74 people with internet gambling problems sought help from the foundation. That was likely to represent just a small portion of those with addictions.

Dr Townshend said the service was also seeing rising numbers of parents seeking help for children addicted to online gaming - internet games that did not necessarily involve spending money.

"Many parents are driven to distraction trying to get their kids off those sites."

Centre for Gambling Studies co-director Fiona Rossen said the problem would get worse as children were "groomed" for online gambling by internet gaming sites.

Dr Townshend said he had been contacted by a family whose teenage son had broken into the neighbour's house so he could continue to gamble, and another who had built up a bill on his grandparents' computer.

Although gambling sites required players to have a credit card and confirm they were adults, he said those controls were ineffective.

"It doesn't slow you down to tick a box, and once you've got those credit card details from your parents once, you don't need the card again."