Slot Machines Draw 100,000 British Truants, Study Claims
A study showing that as many as 100,000 youths skip school daily to play slot machines has prompted the government to propose banning children under 16 from arcades, a report said Sunday.
The government will recommend the new law next month when the Home Office releases the study by a psychiatrist, who estimates that 500,000 British children are hooked on the machines, The Sunday Times reported.
Emanuel Moran, who conducted the study, compared an addiction to slot machines to dependencies on alcohol or drugs, the report said.
“When children find themselves in that situation, it’s a type of desperation,” the report quoted Moran as saying.
Moran was quoted as saying that young people addicted to the machines steal money from their parents or friends to gamble.
British laws say people under the age of 18 cannot gamble, but the report said slot machines are available to children in amusement arcades, train stations and other public places.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
