Day traders seeking help for gambling addiction have tripled in number in South Korea, as COVID-19 social distancing and working-from-home has freed up more time for online stock market trading, data showed.
FILE PHOTO: A South Korea won note is seen in this illustration photo May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
The trend is a worrying sign of things to come should social distancing practices such as work-from-home become the norm, experts said, as isolated individuals have even fewer mechanisms such as peer support to check addictive behaviour. One such individual was 35-year-old bank employee surnamed Lee. He has been trading shares online for over a year since hearing of a friend who made a windfall through frequently buying and selling stocks based on rumour and speculation.
“We tend to see an influx of people seeking help after a huge market dive,” said Kim Yeon-su, treatment manager at the Korea Center on Gambling Problems help centre in Seoul. “It happened with Bitcoin and now it’s happening with stocks.” Investor message boards on South Korea’s dominant internet search portal see high traffic throughout trading hours with posts such as, “I want to become a king ant” and “I was robbed today as usual”, plus discussion of obscure stocks and preferred shares.
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