Defending younger folks from gaming and betting hurt : What we realized from taking prevention into Swedish Colleges

At FDJ UNITED, accountable gaming has at all times been thought-about as going past easy messaging and self-exclusion instruments. Effective prevention requires bettering the chance consciousness early on in order that future clients could make knowledgeable selections and perceive the potential dangers.

A recognised hole is that minors and younger adults usually obtain restricted schooling in regards to the dangers playing presents. In 2025, FDJ UNITED determined to deal with this by initiating a nationwide faculty tour in Sweden, delivered by Spelfriheten, one of many nation’s main organisations working with playing habit and prevention. It is necessary to emphasize that FDJ UNITED is neither talked about nor current in any communication on the colleges.

Gaming and betting issues amongst elite athletes are properly documented – notably throughout harm durations when gamers have important time on their fingers. Yet, the subject had hardly ever been overtly mentioned inside golf equipment or locker rooms. This modified when FDJ UNITED commissioned Spelfriheten to ship obligatory schooling classes throughout all 32 golf equipment. Today, all gamers and golf equipment have acquired coaching, and a devoted nameless reporting line is offered for anybody involved a couple of teammate or themselves.

That collaboration developed additional when a 2024 report by Sweden’s Central Association for Alcohol and Drug Information revealed a worrying rise in playing amongst younger folks. As an organization strongly dedicated to stopping underage playing and decreasing hurt amongst younger adults, FDJ UNITED recognized a chance to take motion. In partnership with Spelfriheten, a nationwide faculty tour was designed and funded by the Group, concentrating on college students in Year 9 and higher secondary faculty.

The programme was intentionally designed to not really feel like a lecture. Rather than delivering a top-down message, the classes are crafted to interact youngsters, immediate real reflection, and construct consciousness of danger with out moralising. By the tip of 2025, Spelfriheten had visited round 30 colleges throughout Sweden from north to south, reaching greater than 3,000 college students.

The knowledge gathered at every faculty go to tells a transparent story. Among underage respondents, roughly half of all boys reported having gambled for cash – whether or not by loot packing containers and pores and skin betting in gaming environments, or by way of betting websites. Yet solely 16% of all college students surveyed had ever acquired any schooling in regards to the dangers of playing. By comparability, 95% had acquired schooling about tobacco dangers, and 98% about alcohol. The hole is placing.

These findings reinforce why industry-funded initiatives like this one matter – however additionally they spotlight the boundaries of what any single firm or organisation can do alone. Sweden’s licensed playing {industry} contributes roughly SEK 5 billion in playing tax every year. FDJ UNITED believes {that a} portion of those revenues needs to be systematically allotted to scaling up preventive schooling. The Group is actively advocating this place with policymakers, parliamentarians, and regulators, and encourages different {industry} stakeholders to hitch that dialog.

Prevention works finest when it begins early, reaches younger folks in their very own environments, and is sustained over time. This undertaking is a step in that path — but it surely must change into the norm, not the exception.