“It worries me to find it in supermarkets”

This week, the Aldi retail chain is offering a new product in its folder for young people aged 10 and over: a game of poker brings in the Nieuwsblad.

Vooruit MP Melissa Depraetere spoke on the subject on Twitter: “The gaming industry does just that. A ban is needed now.” However, Aldi is not the only chain to provide this kind of gambling to the youngest, according to the experts: “At Dreamland, you can find a poker game “from 8 years old” and at Fun even from ” Four years ” “. This product shocked not only MPVooruit, but also a good part of the store’s customers.

Casino games are theoretically not prohibited for children, explains Ronny Willemen, gambling specialist at ZorgGroep Zin Limburg. Only, “confronting children with the playful side of games of chance without providing interpretation is never good”.

Games like Monopoly or Life Road also seem dangerous to him, even if they are “more innocent”. “Research shows that people under 24 are particularly vulnerable to gambling because they cannot always assess the risks,” he says.

He adds, “If it’s already so standardized that you can even find it in supermarkets, that worries me.” For their part, Aldi declares that it is a game and that they had no intention of advertising a gambling game.