School your children about Online Gaming
I just caught something about this on the news wire from the main SBR page. So I will just post the whole article in here.
Cyberspace gambling getting to be a dicey situation for young people
EXPERTS SAY MANY YOUTHS GRADUATE FROM VIDEO GAMES TO ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENTS AND BECOME ADDICTED
Mercury News Editorial
America is in the midst of a gambling boom: Who would have thought high-stakes card games would become popular television viewing? And if you think it's all a passing fad -- don't bet on it.
The NCAA's March Madness tournament puts the spotlight on the hundreds of millions of dollars wagered on college basketball games every spring. But March Madness and Super Bowl office pools aren't the problem. They're mostly the domain of social gamblers.
It's the explosion of online gambling that's alarming. And it will take a heavy toll on society unless parents and others band together now to deal with it.
Online gambling revenues have quadrupled over the past five years into a $12 billion-a-year business. Solid numbers are hard to glean, but experts say large numbers of young people are graduating from video games to online poker tournaments and becoming addicted. Internet poker tournaments are the latest craze on many college campuses.
Efforts to regulate online gambling have been as successful as a poker player holding a pair of deuces. It's technically illegal in the United States, but operations are scattered around the world, out of the reach of American enforcement.
Whittier College law Professor I. Nelson Rose points out that only one American -- the very unlucky Jeffrey Trauman of North Dakota -- has ever been convicted of betting online. Rose believes that Trauman's bank, possibly suspecting Trauman was a drug dealer, turned him in to the feds. He paid a $500 misdemeanor fine.
With government essentially powerless, the burden of curbing this trend falls squarely on the shoulders of parents and of social institutions.
Parents would be appalled if casinos were built in their neighborhoods and opened up to minors. Yet Internet gambling brings casinos directly into the bedrooms of impressionable youth.
The sites hook kids by first allowing them to play for free. These games often are easy to win, giving players a false sense of confidence -- not to mention a skewed view of the odds.
Recent reports demonstrate the dangers:
• A study by the Harvard Medical School shows that teen gamblers are three times more likely to become addicted than adults.
• The American Psychiatric Association reports that 6 percent of teens who have tried gambling became pathological gamblers. That would equate to roughly 150,000 teens across the nation with serious gambling problems.
• The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania reports that the number of American males ages 14-22 who say they gamble at least once a month grew 20 percent from 2004 to 2005. Nearly 3 million young Americans gamble in an average week, according to the Annenberg study, and half of self-identified gamblers reported one of the symptoms of a serious gambling problem, including preoccupation with gambling, overspending or withdrawal from normal activities.
• Researchers at the International Center for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviors at McGill University in Montreal identify increased criminal activity, strained family relationships and depression as consequences of gambling problems among youth. (An estimated 30 percent of pathological gamblers attempt suicide.)
The McGill findings are consistent with experience in San Jose after cardroom gambling expanded in the 1990s. New games catered to Asian cultures -- and police and social-services agencies soon saw a dramatic upswing in domestic violence and other family problems among Asian-Americans in the area, as well as robberies and other crimes targeting them.
So here is a call to action.
Parents need to alert their children to the hazards of gambling in cyberspace. But since kids don't always listen to Mom and Dad, there must be a broader education initiative. Teachers and coaches can help. So can television ads during popular shows. Parents can look for ways to limit their children's exposure to gambling promotions.
Community institutions need to wake up to this smoldering cyberthreat to the financial and mental stability of the next generations.
EXPERTS SAY MANY YOUTHS GRADUATE FROM VIDEO GAMES TO ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENTS AND BECOME ADDICTED
Mercury News Editorial
America is in the midst of a gambling boom: Who would have thought high-stakes card games would become popular television viewing? And if you think it's all a passing fad -- don't bet on it.
The NCAA's March Madness tournament puts the spotlight on the hundreds of millions of dollars wagered on college basketball games every spring. But March Madness and Super Bowl office pools aren't the problem. They're mostly the domain of social gamblers.
It's the explosion of online gambling that's alarming. And it will take a heavy toll on society unless parents and others band together now to deal with it.
Online gambling revenues have quadrupled over the past five years into a $12 billion-a-year business. Solid numbers are hard to glean, but experts say large numbers of young people are graduating from video games to online poker tournaments and becoming addicted. Internet poker tournaments are the latest craze on many college campuses.
Efforts to regulate online gambling have been as successful as a poker player holding a pair of deuces. It's technically illegal in the United States, but operations are scattered around the world, out of the reach of American enforcement.
Whittier College law Professor I. Nelson Rose points out that only one American -- the very unlucky Jeffrey Trauman of North Dakota -- has ever been convicted of betting online. Rose believes that Trauman's bank, possibly suspecting Trauman was a drug dealer, turned him in to the feds. He paid a $500 misdemeanor fine.
With government essentially powerless, the burden of curbing this trend falls squarely on the shoulders of parents and of social institutions.
Parents would be appalled if casinos were built in their neighborhoods and opened up to minors. Yet Internet gambling brings casinos directly into the bedrooms of impressionable youth.
The sites hook kids by first allowing them to play for free. These games often are easy to win, giving players a false sense of confidence -- not to mention a skewed view of the odds.
Recent reports demonstrate the dangers:
• A study by the Harvard Medical School shows that teen gamblers are three times more likely to become addicted than adults.
• The American Psychiatric Association reports that 6 percent of teens who have tried gambling became pathological gamblers. That would equate to roughly 150,000 teens across the nation with serious gambling problems.
• The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania reports that the number of American males ages 14-22 who say they gamble at least once a month grew 20 percent from 2004 to 2005. Nearly 3 million young Americans gamble in an average week, according to the Annenberg study, and half of self-identified gamblers reported one of the symptoms of a serious gambling problem, including preoccupation with gambling, overspending or withdrawal from normal activities.
• Researchers at the International Center for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviors at McGill University in Montreal identify increased criminal activity, strained family relationships and depression as consequences of gambling problems among youth. (An estimated 30 percent of pathological gamblers attempt suicide.)
The McGill findings are consistent with experience in San Jose after cardroom gambling expanded in the 1990s. New games catered to Asian cultures -- and police and social-services agencies soon saw a dramatic upswing in domestic violence and other family problems among Asian-Americans in the area, as well as robberies and other crimes targeting them.
So here is a call to action.
Parents need to alert their children to the hazards of gambling in cyberspace. But since kids don't always listen to Mom and Dad, there must be a broader education initiative. Teachers and coaches can help. So can television ads during popular shows. Parents can look for ways to limit their children's exposure to gambling promotions.
Community institutions need to wake up to this smoldering cyberthreat to the financial and mental stability of the next generations.
