Illawarra teens and their parents have been the focus of an awareness campaign this week to highlight the potential impacts of gambling and gambling advertising.
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As part of Gambling Awareness Week, representatives from Wesley Mission and Mission Australia have hit the streets to talk with people about the dangers and to offer support, while interactive awareness sessions have been held with youth groups and organisations including the University of Wollongong, Wests Illawarra and Juvenile Justice.
"[At UOW] we had quite a few ... who came up and said they had issues with gambling and wanted some help, which is pretty brave, considering all eyes were on them - it's a pretty captive audience there," Wesley Mission gambling counsellor Amanda Smith said.
Ms Smith said young people were getting gambling "prompts" thrown at them while watching sporting events, surfing the net, and playing online games.
"I think gambling is more prevalent than people think [among young people] ... I would say around 50 per cent of my clients' families have gambled, so there's quite a chunk of them that were introduced to it when they were young by watching their parents go to the club and play the pokies," Mrs Smith said.
According to a study by the Australian Council for Educational Research, 76 per cent of 10 to 14-year-olds, and 64 per cent of 15 to 17-year-olds had gambled at least once in the past year.
The most common forms of gambling were the purchase of instant-prize tickets/scratch cards followed by lottery tickets and playing card games at home or in the homes of friends or relatives.
Ms Smith believes as teenagers spend more time on the internet, the problem could evolve to become much worse.
"Just having the access, it's as easy as the poker machines used to be. The availability, it's there in their hand ... and watching telly, [gambling promotion is] always coming up in the ads."
Problem gambling is known to lead to depression as well as impact on work and study performance, undermine friendships, disrupt family life, create financial stress, and even lead to criminal behaviour.
The state government is also doing more to get the message across by releasing a new booklet for teens and families, as well as rolling out new lesson plans for year 11 and 12 students.
Deputy Premier Troy Grant said parents and carers, as well as young people, need to be aware so that they can encourage smart choices.
Dean Debono, 32, is on the road to recovery from a gambling addiction spanning most of his life, and now travels to Wollongong from Campbelltown once a week to see a counsellor and attend Gambling Anonymous meetings.
He doesn't mind the drive because he's motivated to keep his life on track, because "you go to any lengths to gamble, so there's no reason not to go to any lengths to get help".
He says his interest in gambling began when he was about five years old - gambling with footy cards or marbles in school - before marking the race form most days as a teenager.
"I remember my dad always having a punt and would say 'if we win tonight we're going out for dinner' so thinking winning was a good feeling ... and it just went from there. Towards the end I was betting almost 16 or 17 hours a day," he said.
"Escape was the reason to keep going back ... say I owed $1000 on a bill and [I had] $900 ... my way of thinking was 900 or nothing, I'm still 100 short so I may as well waste it all. You don't have normal thinking when you do that. I look back and I can't believe it ... when I was in that moment gambling was like breathing and everything came after."
Mr Debono thought his problems were different, so with all his "little tricks and lies" could manipulate people to be on his side - his family and friends often bailing him out.
"One day I just bought a whole lot of alcohol to see if I could swap it and become an alcoholic - that's how silly my thinking was. I had my two drinks and that was enough so I stopped, but when I gambled I couldn't get enough."
He hopes by telling his story it will help others to realise gambling can become detrimental to your life, and those around you - especially when the marketing is everywhere.
"Like going to the footy and having a bet is part of the game experience ... like the odds are just flashed on and you hear little kids say "Wests Tigers are favourites" and that's not proper talk for little kids ... and it's just so easy with the phones to get addicted to the games."
It finally came to a head two years ago with the threat he wouldn't be able to see his niece and nephew if he continued on the downward spiral.
"Before, money and material things didn't mean anything ... but I adore these two little kids so I think that was just enough for me [to want to change]."
Two years on Mr Debono wants others to know they are not alone and to get help sooner than later.