The first thing we need to do to prevent underage gambling is to figure out what's the legal age for it. And the answer to this depends on where you live. In many European countries, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, the minimum age is indeed 18 years old.

Then in the United States, each individual state has its own minimum age for gambling (if it's in fact legal there at all). In many of the states in the USA, the minimum age for gambling is 21. However, some states have lower ages.

And then across the world, this varies a lot too. So it's important to know the minimum age restrictions in your own area.

Online casinos and sportsbooks need to do their due diligence to prevent underage gambling.

One of the major ways they do this is by age verification checks. To do this, they often require official IDs and can ask for follow up documentation too.

This makes it pretty tricky to fool the system on a wide scale. Having said that, occasionally minors do manage it, so if you have someone underage living in your household, it's important to keep an eye on the whereabouts of your documentation.

This can be a difficult topic to tackle, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

First of all, keep it age appropriate. Secondly, keep the conversation lines open. If your child brings up gambling, don't panic. Simply talk about it.

Make sure they know that gambling isn't a way to make money. It doesn't make watching sports more exciting. And it's possible to lose money or even get addicted.

Last but not least, let them know that the odds are always stacked against gamblers. Online casinos and sportsbooks have to make money after all, so on a large scale, punters simply lose more money than they win.

When a site discovers an underage person has set up an account or is gambling on someone else's account, they will shut it down immediately. All winnings will be forfeited.

So that means if a minor is using your account, they're also putting your cash at risk too. That's even more of an incentive to prevent underage gambling.

Yes, there is. The first and most obvious thing you can do is set up parenting controls on all devices they have access too.

Next up, explore external software like Net Nanny or Gamblock.

By using these tools, you can make it a little simpler to prevent underage gambling in your household and feel a little bit more comfortable in what your child's exposed to online.

You should never gamble around any underage person or discuss your gambling in any great detail.

A child or teenager uses you as a role model. So if you don't want your child to gamble, you shouldn't do it around them.

If you do gamble and they ask you point blank about it, you shouldn't lie. Kids have a way of knowing when you're not telling the truth, after all. But make sure you never make it seem exciting, glamorous or like it's a big part of your life.