Rising Trend of Online Gambling Among Students in Bangladesh: A Cause for Concern

Students across the country, including the capital, are increasingly getting involved in online gambling through mobile apps, thus losing interest in their studies. As these betting sites flourish, many youths, particularly college and university students, find interest in gambling to make money in an easy way instead of focusing on their studies.

Experts are concerned over the addiction of the youths to online gambling as it is causing social degradation, leading to family unrest and financial loss for many families. Events like the Cricket World Cup are the main source of online gambling. Despite police drives, online betting continues unabated and students are getting trapped in it.

Experts suggest the use of modern technology to stop online gambling. A huge amount of money is also being smuggled out of the country due to online gambling. State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “Analyzing the data, we came to know 50 lakh people are engaged with gambling sites.” “We’re trying to block all the illegal gambling sites and also trying to raise awareness among people so that people are not deceived by any temptation,” he added.

Numerous betting sites such as dafabet.com, betway.com, bet365.com are found during investigation. These sites are attracting millions of youths, including students. Investigation reveals that many people have lost everything they had by getting involved in online gambling.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), betting sites are shut down after detection. But gambling operators relaunch these sites under different domains from abroad, sometimes accessed via VPNs. Some sites also have hard-to-shut-down apps. Facebook groups and YouTube tutorials encourage youths to get involved in betting.

Sources said betting has become widespread, with money loaded into gambling apps similar to mobile phone recharges. Agents are appointed from cities to suburbs. Only a few people win, while 95 per cent lose everything through online gambling. Most of these apps are operated from Russia, Malaysia, and Indonesia, with local agents in Bangladesh facilitating transactions and earning commissions. Additionally, money is smuggled out of the country through these agents.

A college student said, “I learned through Facebook that I could earn money from home. I started gambling with Tk 100 and won Tk 16,000 and then I got addicted to it. But one day had to sell motorcycle and couldn’t stop playing during exams.” Another school student said, “I started gambling with Tk 1,500 meant for my tuition fee. Initially, I won and made some money, but later suffered continued losses. I lost a huge sum of money. At one stage, I had to sell my mobile phone. It’s like an addiction—you keep playing as long as you have money.”

Rabeya Khatun from Motijheel said, “My son bought $10 with Tk 1,200 through a Facebook friend and bet on a football match. He played for a year and a half without our knowledge. But we noticed that he had lost interest in his studies.” “Finally, his father came to know about his involvement in online gambling. He took away his mobile phone. But we were very worried about how to get him off this path,” he added.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “A total of 2,600 gambling sites have already been blocked, and now mobile apps are being blocked. It’s a continuous process, it will continue.” He also said they sat with the Department of Telecom, National Telecom Monitoring Centre, Computer Council, BTRC and Cyber Security Agency to discuss ways to block these gambling sites.

Md Tawohidul Haque, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Welfare and Research at Dhaka University, said, “Online gambling has been continuing for many years. Events like the World Cup see a rise in student involvement in online gambling.” “Addicted individuals often take money from their families on the pretext of their necessity. Failing to get money, they sell belongings. Some also turn to drug business, theft, and other crimes to take part in gambling.”

Tawohidul Haque said, “Awareness among youths is crucial to prevent them from online gambling. Families need to discuss the harmful impacts of online gambling and other device-based crimes.” Kusum Dewan, Deputy Inspector General (Organized Crime) of CID, said, “We are receiving many complaints about online gambling apps and are actively working on it. Although it’s hard to stop them completely due to VPN usage, we continue our efforts and have already managed to shut down several apps.” We are taking action against these criminals.” “We have identified about 200 gambling sites, apps, and links on YouTube and Facebook. Each of them is being investigated separately. We are trying to bring the culprits to book,” he added.