Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my concern about the phenomenon that some parents bring their school-aged children with them when they go to purchase Mark Six tickets at the Jockey Club betting centres while some even ask them to choose the numbers for them. This is a terribly worrying situation since it will bring a blaze of drawbacks to the kids’ growth. It is urgent and undeniable that we must put a stop to it.
First and foremost, this act will exert bad influence to the children. For the children, choosing the Mark Six numbers is simply a fun act like a game with potential of winning lots of money. However, the fact is that it is not true. Children may easily have a misconception that there is no cost for the bet, but in fact there is and the more one bets the more it costs. When the children reach the legal age of gambling, they might think that Mark Six is worth trying and risk having a go for it and some more similar gambles.
Apart from the possible undesirable influence to the kids, letting them take part in the Mark Six betting will also make them develop wrong values about gambling. They may wrongly think that gambling is a perfect way to earn ‘easy money’ since every time certain people may become millionaires if they fortunately win the first prize, which covers up the fact that actually many others bet lots of money without getting any return but immense debts. Also, those children might as well think that Mark Six is a family-friendly event as their parents keep doing it with them and they enjoy it. With these incorrect values being cultivated in their immature minds, there is a high possibility that they will be engaged in Mark Six betting and furthermore gambling events in the future. In the worst case, they might also bring this bad habit to their descendants. This is simply a vicious cycle.
It is definitely obvious that there are plentiful negative effects being brought to the children if their parents do not act as a role model to them, involving in gambling events like Mark Six, misleading their kids to a wrong path. Therefore, parents really have no excuse at all to gamble. Not only does gambling do harm to their children, but also it costs a considerable amount of money, which might lead to financial problems of the family and even tear the family apart in serious cases. As a matter of fact, a myriad of money can be saved if parents do not gamble at all. There is just no good reason for a parent to gamble and put their kids and family’s future at risk. Thus, parents should really quit gambling unless they think their children are not to be loved after all.
Yours faithfully,
Pat Li
Pat Li