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Gambling - the act of risking money, property or something of value on an activity with an uncertain outcome. |
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Sounds harmless enough. Unfortunately, the scary truth is that gambling among adolescents is on the rise and underage compulsive/problem gambling can have tragic consequences - it can lead to other addictions, lead to criminal activity, derail your education and your chance for a career, create an enormous financial burden for you and your family, not to mention the grief and worry you can cause your friends and Family.
It is true; gambling has become so commonplace in our society that it is considered normal activity. Proceeds/taxes on gambling are even used to fund charities, non-profit agencies, community programs - even our State Police. While it's true, the majority of people do gamble responsibly, for social and recreational reasons, gambling can and does cause major problems in some people's lives.
Children get messages every day that gambling is an innocent and harmless legitimate form of recreation. While we would expect gambling establishments to espouse the virtues and "the good clean fun" of gambling, we also find that the media, our schools, and even some churches sending messages to children that gambling is both legitimate and harmless recreation. Millions of children see their parents gambling and want to "play" too. Many people think adolescents get started thinking about gambling by playing arcade or hand-held machines such as poker, blackjack, slots or bingo games. Theses games are similar to the real gambling games or the video games at casinos that they see adults play.
All of these games and activities introduce young people to the "exciting" world of gambling. It's no uncommon for kids to think, "If I can win at this video game, I'm sure I can win at the real thing". They might think it is fun and exciting which may lead to more serious forms of wagering. Then, it’s not a game anymore, and they've started down a potential harmful road.
Underage gambling is an frightening problem in our society today. Statistics show that 8% of adolescents, 12 to 17 years old, can be considered problem gamblers. Further, approximately 15% of youths were considered to be at risk of developing problems with gambling.
Another worrisome statistic states that the prevalence of adolescent problem gamblers is reported to be from 2 to 4 times higher than that of adult problem gamblers. Why is this, you ask? While the jury is still out, many thing it stems from adolescents not having the maturity or life experience necessary to deal with the excitement, or the "HIGH" of the moment associated with gambling and not being able to comprehend the serious consequences that can result from its abuse. To illustrate this point, several studies of problem gamblers show that the vast majority had their first experience with gambling before the age of 11.
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