What Parents Should Know About Teen Gambling

Since the U.S. Supreme Court removed the legal barriers that had prohibited states from allowing gambling, some 31 now permit sports betting over phones or websites, and 7 states have authorized online casino gambling. The result of this legal shift “is a crisis, an epidemic of gambling disorder and financial disruption, especially for young men,” writes Jonathan Cohen, author of “Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling.”

Nearly half of men from 18 to 49 — or 22 percent of all Americans — have an active sports betting account, according to the Siena Research Institute. A national poll conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University found that ten percent of men between 18 and 30 may be problem gamblers, a function of the availability of online betting on sports and slot machines. Underage gambling also is on the rise. The largest demographic group calling gambling hotlines are teenagers and young adults in their twenties, and Yale Medicine reports that many troubles begin when players are adolescents. Gamblers who start young are more apt to develop a problem in adulthood. While betting can be another form of entertainment for many, those with a problem have a higher rate of suicide than alcoholics or drug addicts. Further, the Journal of Pediatrics reported that underage gambling is linked to substance abuse.

“If you think your kid isn’t gambling, either he’s an exception or you’re deluding yourself,” Cohen told me. “Your son, if he plays video games or likes sports, is almost certainly gambling in some way,” he added. Some teenagers play games on sites that their parents might not realize involve wagering: Underdog Fantasy, PrizePicks and Sleeper Picks, for example, fall under the category of fantasy sports, and most states permit 18-year-olds to take part. All but a handful of states require that players be at least 21 to place bets on the large online sites like DraftKings and BetMGM, however. Tech savvy and more determined teenagers might also find ways to get around the prominent sites’ age requirements by sneaking their parents’ Social Security numbers and using Apple Pay to fund the habit.

“Most parents have no idea how much their kids are being targeted by predatory gambling,” said Les Bernal, who runs the advocacy group Stop Predatory Gambling. Experts on the gambling industry encourage parents to act, but threats and scare tactics can backfire. Bernal said that kids respond better to information. He advised telling kids that gambling is highly addictive and informing them that the whole scene is a rip-off — the companies see you as an easy mark. Parents need to keep talking about it and making it easier for your child to reveal his problem. And if the teenager discloses a problem at any level, like betting or losing more than intended, treat it as seriously as you would drugs or alcohol addiction.

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services