A SENIOR teacher has spoken of youngsters betting up to £100 on football matches amid a review into gambling in Stockton.

The teacher said 16-year-olds at his former workplace had been “spot betting” on football matches using “significant sums of money”.

Pupils at the unnamed school placed sums between £50 and £100 on football accumulators – often on matches held abroad.

Answering questions on his experiences of gambling in schools, Mr Skerry told Stockton Council’s adult social care and health select committee how the Year 11 pupils were “avid football fans” – putting money down on a wide range of markets.

He said: “I became very aware of it two years ago when it seemed to have an impact on a certain group of Year 11 students and we did some work in the pastoral programme related to that.

“If we compare it to drugs or alcohol that would be far more evident in day-to-day dealings and this would only come up through chance conversations.

“This would indicate it’s a relatively minor issue but could have a big impact.”

Mr Skerry said his former school was in a “relatively affluent” catchment area – indicating students had some access to disposable income.

“The figures talked about were quite substantial,” he added.

After the meeting, Mr Skerry said the concerns from two years ago were dealt with by the school’s pastoral team and parents were called in.

Stockton Council launched a review into the impacts of problem gambling in December with Tuesday’s meeting looking at the impact on young people.

The minimum age to gamble legally is 18 in the UK.