Should casino games be taught at school

Recent reports that children may be taught the elements of gambling at school has brought a rapid response from the President of the International Federation of Poker, expressing his concern that poker had not been mentioned in the reports. The original reports made reference to online casino games such as craps and slots, and appeared to suggest that children should be taught the odds of winning when gambling on this type of casino game, but the IFP clearly feels that poker also offers great educational potential, and is in fact already promoting poker as what they call a mind sport of strategic skill in which players are wagering at favourable odds. Online casinos have the same problems as most other internet sites when it comes to identifying their customers, and because they offer casino games it is possible that they may attract underage gamblers who somehow have access to acceptable deposit options. For this reason we would probably support some form of gambling education of young people, particularly regarding the odds of winning when playing the specific types of casino games online which are likely to attract a younger audience. We can also see that casino games such as poker may well be useful educational tools on many levels, not least the ability to think logically and make appropriate decisions. Apparently poker is already being used in some American universities as a teaching aid and we will be interested to see whether its use spreads to this side of the Atlantic, but we also feel that poker is unlikely to be a young person’s game of choice when they first start to gamble on casino games at an online casino. The most obvious dangers, for want of a better word, are likely to be the casino slot games which many young people may have already experienced in other forms, and because they are so easy to play it is also easy for young people to forget that they are gambling and that the casino will always have the edge. Perhaps knowledge of the odds is a lesson we all need to learn regardless of our age, and not just when playing the more skill based casino games such as poker.