Overnewton Anglican Community College students helped raise awareness about gambling features in video games aimed at children, as part of the YMCA Youth Parliament recently.
Victorian Youth Parliament is a YMCA program in which young people aged 16 to 25 work in teams to create and debate bills.
The Overnewton students drafted a bill to create an online gambling commission to better regulate the impact of gambling features in games available to children on phones or gaming devices.
Youth Parliamentarian Jack Biberhofer said some elements in games could lead to gambling problems later in life.
“People don’t think it’s an issue because it’s a video game and they’re just kids,” Mr Biberhofer said.
Many online games ask for small in-game payments to win prizes, producing randomised items or access to otherwise locked features.
The items are often mediocre, which draws players into paying for another “loot box” to hopefully win a better prize or help in advancing more quickly through the game,
Another member of the Overnewton team, Emily Stevenson, said the Youth Parliament presented a unique opportunity to raise issues that matter to students in a wider forum.
“We get to influence politics,” she said. “It feels like we are given a voice.”
Victoria’s Parliament has adopted 25 bills into law that were debated in the YMCA program since its launch 32 years ago.
Laura Green
