Experts warn of teenage gambling addiction

By Marianna Kakaounaki & Theodora Vassilopoulou

Sixteen-year-old ?Yiannis? is very familiar with the Internet. He was around 13 when he first tried his hand at a free poker app. His confidence grew as he started winning and, as he had read about the huge cash prizes that could be won at international poker tournaments ? he had in fact heard that one world champion was a Greek who started playing at a young age ? he started dreaming of becoming a champion too.

One day Yiannis decided that it was time to test his skills in the ?real world:? Using his pocket money he unlocked the next level and started playing for money for the first time at the age of 14. As he saw his winnings grow he thought about all the things his parents had refused to buy for him and set his mind on making enough money to buy an expensive cell phone.

His parents didn?t know what he was doing. He spent hours at his computer but whenever they asked him what he was doing he just said he was just playing a game; he never mentioned the poker or the money. Yiannis played every day for about a year-and-a-half, sometimes winning and sometimes losing. At some point, however, the winning stopped and he started making significant losses. He sold his fancy cell phone in a bid to get his money back, but when that failed he was faced with a dilemma.

Yiannis finally decided to ?borrow? some money from his grandmother, withdrawing cash behind her back with the ATM card she had entrusted to him. Luck was still not on his side, not the first time nor the second. Things got tough as his losses grew and he started worrying about how he would return the money he had taken. He became anxious and stressed and started having problems at school. The extent of the problem emerged only...