A survey released by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has found that roughly two out of 10 youths in Seoul have witnessed gambling, indicating a sharp rise in early exposure driven largely by online access and peer influence.
Seoul, South Korea’s capital, is home to around half of the country’s population, pointing to the broader significance of the findings.
According to survey results reported by local media outlet ChosunBiz, 20.9 percent of surveyed students said they had seen gambling activities, nearly double the level recorded a year earlier.
The findings were announced on January 28th as part of the agency’s 2025 Youth Gambling Survey, which was conducted between October 27th and December 9th of last year among 34,779 student youths in Seoul. In a comparable 2024 survey of 10,685 students, only 10.1 percent reported having witnessed gambling.
The share of youths who said they had personally experienced gambling also increased, rising from 1.5 percent in 2024 to 2.1 percent last year. The survey further showed that the age at which students first encounter gambling is declining, with the most common starting point shifting from the first year of middle school to the fifth grade of elementary school.
Online platforms were the dominant channel, with about 80 percent of youths who had gambled doing so online. Smartphones were the most frequently used device or location, cited by 64.6 percent of respondents. Peer recommendations were identified as the main trigger, with 40.3 percent saying they began gambling following suggestions from friends.
Most youths funded gambling using their own allowance or savings, accounting for 76.2 percent of responses. However, 2.8 percent said they raised money through illegal means such as extortion, fraud, or school violence. The survey also found that 13.8 percent had incurred debt due to gambling, with some resorting to illegal lending, pawning valuables, or violent methods to repay their obligations.
In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it will run a youth gambling intensive prevention and management period from February to April, strengthening intelligence efforts related to youth gambling and blocking illegal accounts. The agency also plans to cooperate with regulators, including the Korea Communications Standards Commission, to shut down illegal gambling sites.
