“Hey guys, you want to play poker?”

The YMCA Youth Gambling Awareness Program is connecting with youth, building awareness of the potential harm gambling can cause, and giving youth strategies to reduce their risk if they choose to gamble.

Louise Smith, the Manager of the YMCA Youth Gambling Awareness Program, is one of four staff on the YMCA provincial team.  The program is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and employs 19 youth outreach workers in 18 YMCA sites across the province, including Toronto East, Toronto West and Durham.

“Our youth outreach workers are out talking to eight year-olds in Grade 3 who already know how to play blackjack and poker,” Smith says.  “This is the first generation in which youth are growing up in an environment where gambling is actively promoted.”

YMCA outreach workers connect with youth wherever they are: in schools, drop-in centres, sports groups, day camps, religious organizations and other settings.  They then deliver hour-long awareness sessions (designed in collaboration with youth) that fit in with the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum. 

There are four specific developmentally appropriate presentations designed for youth aged 8-10, 11-14, 15-18 and 19-24.  Gambling-awareness sessions are also presented to teachers, parents and caregivers.

“Our message is what we call ‘gambling neutral’” says Smith.  “Our stance is that gambling is neither good nor bad; it is a behaviour that people may or may not choose to engage in.  A gambling neutral message combined with harm reduction approach provides youth with the information they need to make informed decisions.”

“When we received initial funding for the program in 1999,” Smith says, “we had to raise the awareness that gambling could cause harm.  Today we find that young people are more aware that gambling can become an issue.”