HOW would you react if you found out your child was gambling in school? Would it be tempered by the fact that the child had won big?
This was the conundrum faced by a mother in Penang who found out her eight-year-old was raking in the winnings from gambling activities at school.
The mother’s suspicions were aroused during a shopping trip whereby the daughter asked for a luxury schoolbag costing almost RM900.
The mother had insisted that it was too expensive and would take her to another shop to get a more reasonably priced schoolbag, and the child insisted that she had enough money of her own to pay for the luxury version. That’s when she revealed she had over RM1,500 stashed inside her bag.
Shocked at the amount of cash her daughter had in hand, the mother asked for the source, knowing that it could not be savings from her weekly allowance as it was a very reasonable RM50 per week.
That’s when her daughter revealed that she had been gambling in school and making huge winnings, wiping up her wealthier schoolmates’ allowances. She revealed that many of her international schoolmates were given up to RM100 a day in pocket money.
The mother was both surprised and angry. She was even more shocked when her husband merely laughed at the tale when it was recounted to him, and she was told to forget about it.
Sharing her experience on UTAR – ALL rejected or censored posts forum, the mother says she is confused and is unsure how to react. Her daughter had explained she was able to “win big” by playing “banker” in card games, allowing her to spread her risks and make lots of profits.
FocusM maintains that gambling is a vice and if left unsupervised, it can lead the child astray, especially when she has sampled the thrill of winning big.
Furthermore, at eight years’ old, the child cannot yet fully comprehend the consequences of a gambling addiction and how it can tear families apart. Parents must be wary of exposing young children to card games and other gaming activities, as it may lead to unwanted habits.
As an aside, FocusM is also a touch concerned that primary school students are being given such extravagant amounts as school allowance, allowing them to buy luxury items or worse, fritter it away gambling.
These school kids are obviously too young to fully appreciate the value of money and the consequences of just gambling it away with nary a second thought. – Sept 6, 2023
Main photo credit: Gifts for card players
