Ranchi, Sept. 27: During the recent Twenty20 championships, when schoolboys were heard discussing the tournament, it was not just the finer points of the game they discussed. Many of their discussions boiled down to Rs 2 and 65 paisa. That was the sum they had played their bets on.

The fact that they are barely 14 or 15 years old hardly seemed to come in the way of their betting obsession. They maybe young but going by the professional manner in which they had been following the betting trends, they sure seem to understand the procedure well.

This, perhaps, should be an eye-opener to the extent the malaise has spread in society. “But what can you do if two young boys enter into a bet like this,” said a parent.

Raj Sinha, one such parent, felt that such betting between school students should be taken in a sporting spirit.

“All of us, in some form or the other, discuss a crucial match in terms of who will treat whom if one’s team won,” Sinha said.

But psychiatrist P.K. Choudhary has a word of caution against this growing trend. “Those boys are merely imitating what they see in the society around them and among their elders. It was highlighted in the news how betting was done on each ball and each decision of a cricket match during the just concluded Twenty-20 championship.

“But what the parents need to do is to develop better communication with their children so that this harmless amount of betting does not grow into a problem, like heavy betting later.”