Youth Gambling: Coping Skills Up 40% After Prevention Performance... Pilot Schools Expanded to 170

Ministry of Education Signs MOU with Financial Supervisory Service, KakaoBank, and BTF Pureun Namu Foundation to Prevent Youth Gambling and Financial Harm

Pilot Program Schools to Expand from 12 to 170 Nationwide

The government’s "interactive theater" program for youth gambling prevention has been shown to be effective in improving gambling awareness.

On July 22, the Ministry of Education announced that, after implementing the arts-based experiential gambling prevention education program "Zero Round (0% Round)" at 12 middle and high schools last year and measuring its impact, participating students’ awareness and perception of gambling risks improved by 25.1%. Their competency in gambling response knowledge increased by 42.8%.

Zero Round is a participatory theater performance developed by the BTF Pureunnamu Foundation. Students interact with professional actors during the play, and subsequently take part in sharing their thoughts, as well as discussions and debates. The program is designed to help students naturally learn about the irrational structure of gambling — which is constructed to have a 0% winning probability — and the seriousness of financial damage, as well as to internalize the principles of sound decision-making and ways to seek help.

This year, the Ministry of Education plans to expand the program to 170 schools nationwide.

To this end, on this day the Ministry of Education signed a "Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Youth Gambling Prevention and Financial Harm Prevention" with the BTF Pureunnamu Foundation, the Financial Supervisory Service, and KakaoBank. Previously in May, the ministry had also signed an MOU with six government agencies — the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Financial Services Commission, the Korea National Gambling Control Commission, the National Police Agency, the Financial Supervisory Service, and others — to jointly address the youth gambling issue. However, the ministry explained that the new MOU differs from previous agreements, as it combines administrative support from the central government with the expertise of private-sector organizations.

Under the new agreement, the Financial Supervisory Service will provide information and educational content on financial harm and the prevention of illegal private lending for youth. The BTF Pureunnamu Foundation will offer consultation in the development of gambling prevention education materials, such as theatrical performances. KakaoBank, for its part, plans to use its social networking services (SNS) to actively publicize its Illegal Private Lending Reporting Center, making it easier for young people to access the center and report when needed.

KakaoBank will provide 550 million won in sponsorship this year to support the BTF Pureunnamu Foundation’s youth gambling prevention education program, and will use various online platforms to disseminate information on gambling and financial harm prevention. Moreover, when a youth under the age of 19 attempts to transfer funds to an account suspected of being involved in illegal gambling, KakaoBank will detect and block the transfer in real time, and display warning screens related to illegal gambling, thereby aiming to prevent youth from engaging in illegal gambling and suffering financial losses through technical measures as well.

Choi Eunok, Vice Minister of Education, stated, "The issue of youth gambling not only hinders student growth and learning, but can also lead to financial harm and secondary crimes, so a comprehensive response is needed." She emphasized, "With this MOU, we will strengthen partnerships among relevant agencies to enhance gambling prevention education in schools so that youth can recognize the dangers of gambling and financial harm early on and receive the help they need."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.