Hong Kong school pupils as young as seven are being referred for addiction counselling for online gaming, with requests for help involving increasingly younger children, a digital habits workshop has heard.Crystal Leung Chui-yee, officer-in-charge of the Sunshine Lutheran Centre, a counselling and treatment centre for problem gamblers, revealed the alarming frontline trend at a workshop organised by Young Post and the South China Morning Post’s student business, SCMP Learn, attended by about 70 parents on Sunday.Leung, a counselling psychologist, cited the case of a seven-year-old Primary Two pupil who was referred to her centre with a severe addiction to virtual subcultures and pay-to-win games.“By the time he came to us, we discovered that he had taken nearly HK$8,000 in cash from his mother and used her credit card,” Leung said at the workshop, titled “AI responsibilities, digital habits and hidden pitfalls”.“Eight thousand dollars is a massive sum for a seven-year-old. It signals an incredibly dangerous boundary cross.”Leung said randomised gaming “loot boxes” could act as early conditioning for adult gambling addictions.
Pupils as young as 7 hooked on online games as expert warns of alarming trend
Boy took nearly HK$8,000 in cash from his mother and used her credit card, counselling psychologist tells workshop.
TL;DRAI
Hong Kong clinics report 7-year-olds in gaming addiction counselling; documented case: child spent HK$8,000 on loot boxes. Signals regulatory risk for publishers: loot boxes act as early gambling addiction conditioning, raising game design ethics questions.
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