EDITOR’S NOTE: All student names in this article have been changed.
Daniel Miller was just 16 when he placed his first bet.
Since originally betting on the World Cup, Miller, a junior, says that his gambling habits have become “irresistible” and at times “uncontrollable.” Now, he bets about $100 every week, and during the NFL season, he says he bets five times a week.
“I’m gambling in class, at home, on the bus,” he said. “It’s through an app on my phone, so I can do it pretty much anywhere with internet access. There’s also virtually no limit as to what you can gamble.”
What began as a mere bet on an “otherwise uninteresting” sports game mutated into an obsession. At the same time, Miller carries the burden of a full academic course load with multiple A.P. classes and extracurriculars.
Miller says that gambling has negatively impacted his relationships with others in his life.
“I lost my job because of gambling. At one point, my boss and I were very close friends,” he said. “But then he placed a bet and ended up losing a lot of money. And as I was collecting my bets, he owed me about $100. Our relationship began to deteriorate. In the end, it caused me to quit my job.”
Youth are more susceptible to gambling compared to adults, according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Ontario. Because their brains are not fully developed, teens take more risks and may have greater difficulty making informed decisions.
“Gambling is a high-risk behavior for youth. Firstly, longitudinal studies have confirmed that gambling behavior in young adulthood is established in late adolescence. Secondly, when adolescents engage in excessive gambling, their risk for becoming addicted to gambling later in life increases,” said Allison Drain, Prevention Coordinator of the North Carolina Problem Gambling Program (NCPGP).
In addition, Drain and others are concerned that online gambling could be associated with gaming given the similarities between playing video games and gambling online, which are both accessible from a mobile device and involve chance mechanisms. For example, many online video games feature “loot-boxes,” which randomly generate in-game prizes that can be purchased for virtual currency or real money.
“Increased availability [of video game platforms] has led to an increase in gambling among youth. This is because gambling products are now available 24-hours a day online. There is also a convergence of the gaming and gambling industries,” Drain said. “Marketing and advertising have also increased in communities and online as sports betting has been legalized across the country. In addition, research indicates that youth are being targeted with gambling messages on social media.”
In general, gambling can serve as an escape much like addictive substances, providing temporary sensory emotions of rush and excitement. More often, however, gambling can lead to clinical anxiety, depression and social isolation, according to the U.K.’s Mental Health Foundation, as well as compel teens like Miller to neglect their responsibilities and avoid social situations.
“It is very important to understand that gambling is an addiction rooted in the brain similar to drugs and alcohol,” Drain said. “Youth can experience problems with their health, school, work and relationships as a result of excessive gambling.”
Between 60 to 80 percent of high schoolers say they have gambled for money in the past year, and up to six percent are addicted to gambling, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. Nonetheless, many parents and teens overlook activities related to gambling and the potential consequences of this prolonged behavior.
At East, Miller said that it is not uncommon for his classmates to gamble. In fact, he emphasized that, at least among his friend group, there is “not a single person who hasn’t gambled,” and that he would be shocked if many of his peers at school had never placed a bet.
Since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in the 2018 case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, over 30 states and Washington D.C. have followed suit. In North Carolina, any form of gambling for profit is illegal. Regardless of the fact that the legal gambling age is 18 or 21 depending on the state and the type of gambling, many teens still find illegal ways to gamble.
Miller noted that underage high schoolers can place bets by using older people’s accounts on legal gambling sites, or using unregulated sites to gamble. At the same time, lobbying groups such as the American Gaming Association affirm that they have third-party tracking systems to verify the ages of consumers.
“It’s not that hard for high schoolers to gamble,” Miller said. “Just say that you’re 18 online or have your parents place a bet or have some older high schooler place a bet. In my case, I just placed bets with my [co-workers] who are older than me. You can also place bets with your older friends. Gambling is very accessible.”
Miller’s friend, senior Anthony Parker, also gambles on a daily basis. The two joked that they wager together on how many students will show up to their math class.
“Gambling is probably one of the easiest things to do on your phone. It’s like downloading a mobile game,” said Parker, who was first introduced to betting during the 2017 Super Bowl. “Gambling makes a big sports game more interesting. It’s fun and there’s the hope that I’ll make a lot of money, especially since I’m good at predicting the outcomes of sports. If I’m going to watch a game anyway, I might as well bet on it.”
Parker added that he hopes to use his earnings from sports betting to help pay off his college tuition. Currently, he is grateful to be breaking even on his bids.
“I’ve never had to take money from anyone to pay off debt. I always take money from my savings,” he said. “Usually the winnings cover the losses, so there’s no debt or any sort of risk of getting my toes chopped off. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to pay off some of my student loans by gambling.”
Drain asserted that schools have a critical role to play in helping to ensure that students do not become addicted to gambling. In addition to providing a support system of social workers and other staff who can help students struggling with gambling, schools can generate awareness and facilitate prevention by tying gambling behaviors to broader approaches to address mental health.
“School systems can help prevent high-risk behaviors, such as gambling, by making sure students have access to evidence-based youth prevention education in the classroom. This [education], coupled with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies intentionally embedded into the classroom and the school culture, can assist students in learning healthy coping strategies, how to express emotions, and how emotions affect other people,” Drain said.
“Certain risk factors are also present in many young people that put them at risk for developing a problem with gambling. Understanding these risk factors and providing important protective factors that include school and community bonding will help students excel academically and emotionally,” she added. “An example of a risk factor is living with someone who has a gambling disorder. Youth prevention education is an excellent example of an important protective factor.”
As part of its mission to support awareness and treatment of youth gambling disorder, the NCPGP has helped more than 40 middle and high schools statewide provide the Stacked Deck curriculum, the only Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) approved evidence-based curriculum for problem gambling prevention among youth.
According to Drain, teachers and after-school program staff are trained by NCPGP staff and offered a grant to implement the curriculum during the school day. Instructors are provided a guidebook and a PowerPoint presentation to accompany the training in order to deliver the curriculum.
“The Stacked Deck curriculum is an evidence-based program. This means it has been proven to change attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors centering around gambling,” Drain said. “We have also adapted the curriculum to be provided in a learning management system for teachers to utilize as a teaching tool in the classroom. Additionally, we are adding in a lesson in gaming disorder and media literacy to assist youth with understanding how gambling can be embedded into games and understanding how to critically read messages and produce messages in the online world.”
Image courtesy of pxfuel
