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Read Full BioKakao Bank, one of South Korea’s biggest neobanks, has launched a youth gambling prevention campaign, holding education sessions at 12 middle and high schools in the Seoul metropolitan area.
The South Korean media outlet News1 reported that the bank has become the main sponsor of the Blue Tree Foundation (BTF)’s Zero Round initiative.
The foundation is a youth-focused NGO. Its Zero Round project was designed to inform teenage South Koreans in middle and high school about the dangers of gambling.
The project comprises interactive workshops intended to raise awareness of gambling among teens.
It also lets students take “self-diagnosis” tests to see if they have gambling problems, and provides a guide to gambling prevention.
Kakao Bank: More Anti-Gambling Sessions Slated for November
The bank and the BTF co-hosted their first session at Daecheong Middle School in Gangnam District, Seoul, on October 30.
Kakao Bank and the foundation will hold further sessions in the metropolitan area throughout November.
The parties utilize drama workshops and musical elements to dramatize scenarios in which students are tricked into believing that gambling platforms are harmless video games.
Other scenarios focus on students who borrow money from loan sharks to fuel their gambling habits.
Loan Sharks Circle as Youth Gambling Figures Climb
Last month, regulators revealed that loan sharks are continuing to lend money to South Korean teenagers with gambling addictions in spite of a recent government crackdown.
The bank is also providing interactive quizzes at the sessions. Officials said this would “let students participate in the learning process directly.”
The foundation and the bank say they have also created a Zero Round website, which features free resources designed to stem the rise of youth gambling.
A Kakao Bank official explained that the neobank hopes the campaign will “accurately convey the risks of gambling to young people.”
The spokesperson said: “Gambling can lead to financial harm, as is the case when teenagers take out illegal loans. We will help prevent the harm done to financially vulnerable groups such as teenagers and senior citizens.”
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released figures showing a fourfold year-on-year rise in online gambling among teenagers.
Critics argue that the government needs to do more to assist. Some have lamented the fact that the budget for gambling prevention awareness projects fell 10% between 2021 and 2024.
