The average gambler is not a middle-aged person with a PSLE cert. He is younger, bets bigger, and loses more. SHIRINDERJIT KAUR reports.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewee

The first thing that Aloysius does when he gets out of bed is to head straight to his computer and log on to his favourite on-line betting site. The 23-year-old can easily spend up to 90 minutes analysing the stakes on the international sports scene.

“I’ll sit in front of the computer without even brushing my teeth. And I’ll start to go through all the games being played for the day, right from ice hockey to basketball and my favourite, football,” he says. But the betting hasn’t started.

How it works

After noting down the important games being played in the day, Aloysius will have a phone conference with his betting buddies. Everyone provides his feedback on his specialised area.

He says, “I’ve always been passionate about football. So it’s never difficult for me to guess which team will win or which player might score for a particular match. ”

Aloysius can place just a dollar stake on 10 games and get a return of $1,000, that is, if the team wins. “I tend to get carried away once I win,” he says.

“I might start betting on more matches with a larger sum of money and sometimes I even bet on matches that I barely know about,” he says.

How it begins

According to reports in The Straits Times in May, an average gambler starts gambling even before the age of 18. And Aloysius is a model example. Since a child, he has been accompanying his father to Singapore Pools and when he was 18, he started playing 4-D “I don’t remember my father explaining to me that what I was doing was wrong. He actually helped me to place my first bet,” he recalls.

Indeed, sociologists note that betting is actually taking on the form of a recreational habit. According to sociologist Paulin Straughan, who was interviewed by The Straits Times, buying 4-D and Toto is routine here. “It is increasingly seen as normal behaviour and people don’t see any harm in such activities. So they’re less likely to tell their loved ones not to engage in such activities,” she says.

By the time he turned 21, he turned to online betting, which he calls a “cheap” thrills.

Why bet online?

Many more people are betting online, thanks to numerous online betting websites. In addition are the online communities where newbies learn the “skills’” that go into placing the right stakes.

According to AsiaOne Business website ), online gamblers have the tendency to bet in larger sums thinking that they’ll use the extra money that they’ve won to place another bet.

So, imagine Holland matching up against Wales: For Holland to win, the standard amount to start bidding is $1.33. If a gambler bets $100 on Holland, he wins $133 and makes a profit of $33. And if Holland loses, he loses $100. The $33 can be used for another bet.

Many are tempted to play bigger sums. If the gambler uses a credit card, the damage tends to be worse. “And there is a risk that one has to get loans to pay up,” says Aloysius.

Right now, according to Professor David Chan of the National Council on Problem Gambling , though there is no increase in gambling addiction over the past three years, he told The Straits Times, the council intends to reach out to more schools with trained counselors to tell students about the dangers of youth gambling.
Even Aloysius is feeling the heat.

He says, “I feel a little guilty after seeing how addicted my young cousin has became to online betting. It is eating into his savings. I am trying to correct his idea that betting is investing. But I just hope I can do it before he uses all his savings.”