Gambling on the Rise

This is a story about gambling among young people, a problem on the rise. It is a view through the eyes of four students at Grapevine High School who gamble and who for their own protection remain anonymous. This is not a commentary on GHS, however, as you will see. It is about the increasing number of gamblers in the teenage population. The story was researched and written by a GHS student, Courier intern, Craig Black.

Gambling should be a game of calculated risk — in sports, card games, craps and the rest of the gamut. The key to being a rational, and therefore, winning gambler, is to know your odds.

More than 1 percent of all citizens in the United States and Canada are considered pathological gamblers, according to the National Center for Responsible Gaming. For these people, the allure to beat the odds and win big is just too powerful.

Gamblers Anonymous describes such a person: “They often see themselves as quite philanthropic and charming people. They may dream of providing families and friends with new cars, mink coats, and other luxuries. Compulsive gamblers picture themselves leading a pleasant gracious life, made possible by the huge sums of money they will accrue from their ‘system.’ Servants, penthouses, nice clothes, charming friends, yachts, and world tours are a few of the wonderful things that are just around the corner after a big win is finally made.”

Compulsive gambling is not systematized, rational, calculating, informed or reasoned; it is, in fact, a complete departure from those very principles. Just what makes a gambler compulsive? When do they start? And where do they get the money?

Many people learn the basics of gambling at an early age, beginning with games such as Five Card Draw and Blackjack, which are some of the simplest to pick up. Others may begin betting on sporting events — including local high school and college games as well as professional league games.

Gambling is not at all restricted to those of legal age. In fact, underage gamblers make up a substantial proportion of those with gambling disorders, at least one sociologist says. Henry Lesieur, a sociologist at St. John University, found that there are eight times as many college-aged gambling addicts as adult -aged gambling addicts. Additionally, Time Magazine estimates that one million of the estimated eight million gambling addicts in the United States are teenagers.

For this story, I interviewed four high school students who gamble to see what their gambling habits were: how they got started, what they bet on, what they won and how they managed their profits or losses.

For obvious reasons, I will not use their real names. My questions, in bold, began with this one:

How and when did you start gambling?

“Bob” is involved in an extracurricular organization that competes around the state, and he sees rampant gambling in poker with other participating high school students, ranging from freshmen to seniors.

Another student, “Chuck,” began gambling on sports when he was in the eighth grade, initially against people his age and progressing to friends of his older sibling. He also enjoys betting on video games.

“Juan” started betting on sports with his dad several years ago. He now spends the majority of his money on Internet sports gambling with people of all ages.

“Pete” used to bet on sports, but now exclusively plays Texas Hold ‘Em poker against people his age and college friends. He started playing poker when he was 14.

Tell me about your biggest wins, and where they came from.

Bob couldn’t recall any specific win.

“I usually break about even. I play with a little allowance money that I get, whatever is left over from the week,” he said. “I typically lose the profit that I made early on, and end up leaving marginally ahead, marginally behind or even. It’s cheap entertainment, for me.”

Chuck had a relatively recent win to tell about.

“At the beginning of the season, I put down $10 that Oklahoma would be No. 1. I took 40:1 odds against it, and made $400,” he said with a laugh.

He made the bet against his father’s office pool at the beginning of the season.

Juan had a huge Internet win on Fantasy Hockey. Fantasy Hockey is a theoretical game run on a number of Web sites, including Yahoo.com and ESPN.com, that allows the user to create a fantasy hockey team using a system of credits — purchased with a credit card — to hire players. Once a player creates a team, he is ready to take on other Fantasy Hockey teams for money. The game is relatively new and incredibly popular among sports fans.

Juan registered under his father’s name in order to gamble “legally,” with his father’s knowledge and consent.

Pete won $120 in one night playing against what he called some “very loose and very inexperienced players” who were roughly his age, give or take two years.

How much have you lost in one sitting?

Bob didn’t report any of his own losses, but said “I’ve seen a guy, he couldn’t have been older than 18, lose over $100 in one night. … When people lose like that, they think they can win it back. Everyone around the table urges him and people like him to buy more chips, get back in the game and play some more. The problem is, after losing that much money, you can’t be rational any more, and you start playing recklessly.

“Some people just can’t control themselves,” he added.

Keeping in mind this gambling was going on during a school-sponsored activity, I asked if Bob’s coach knew about all the gambling that went on during these events. Bob assured me that his coach did not know.

“I doubt any of the coaches from any of the other schools know about it, either,” Bob said. “For all they know, we’re just getting together and socializing, not gambling.” Chuck shrugged dismissively when I asked him about his losses. “Maybe $100 on one game,” he said.

Juan lost $180 betting on the same Internet Fantasy Hockey game. “I got really mad, and kind of broke some stuff,” he said. “I figured I was still ahead, so I kept playing. I’m breaking about even now.”

Pete lost $80 playing poker.

“I broke the cardinal rule of poker,” he admitted. “I got caught up in emotionalism and started trying to take every pot I could. The best way to think of it is that I just gave back some money temporarily to the guys I usually take it from.”

How do you typically organize or track your winnings and losses?

When I asked this question, everyone but Pete gave me a blank stare.

“I used to spend whatever I won,” Pete said. “But now I keep track of everything. I write down what I win or lose in a given night; what the big hands were that cost me money and what I did wrong, and I learn from it.” Pete smiled. “I force myself to be honest about how I do.”

He showed me a spiral notebook filled with figures and analysis of his play and his opponent’s tendencies at the poker table.

“I used to bet on sports, but I quit that a while ago,” he said.

Pete practices poker strategy on Partypoker.com, an Internet gaming site that allows you to play against other people around the world for real money or fake credits.

“You have an account that keeps track of your fake money, so you can see how you perform in the long run playing a certain way without actually losing any real money. It’s a great way to learn the ropes,” he said.

A player doesn’t have to register a name or anything else to play with the fake money, but will have to register if he wants to bet the real thing, Pete said.

“I ran into one site that did want me to register using a credit card to play for free, but I got out of there,” he recalled. “They don’t need that information if I’m not going to be playing for money. I guess it’s pretty important to find a reputable site.” While on the topic of Internet gaming, Financial Times Website ran an article Feb. 22 about a frightening lack of security involving many Internet gambling centers.

While there are many relatively safe betting Websites available, there are also many that are far less reputable and far more risky as well.

Many online bookies are consistently being blackmailed by hackers who demand money in exchange for not hacking to destroy security on the Website — an event that could certainly compromise thousands of “secure” credit card transactions in a single day.

Many of these Websites are offshore. A month before this year’s Superbowl, hackers attacked Websites based in Gibraltar and Antigua that were used by American gamblers.

It’s something to keep in mind before you get lured by introductory offers and commit your credit card to a Web site.

Are you a compulsive gambler?

None of the four underage gamblers consider themselves compulsive, but Pete said he knows some guys who are. “They get most of their money from their parents, with their parents’ knowledge. You can’t loan these guys money because they’re just unreliable.”

Is there a growing number of teenagers who gamble?

That’s hard to judge. Compulsive gamblers don’t get the kind of press that compulsive drinkers do. And while alcoholism has been an acknowledged disease for quite some time, it was only in 1980 that the American Psychiatric Association recognized pathological gambling as a disorder. In other words, there isn’t much of a baseline for comparison.

As an informal statistic, social worker and sociology professor Kay White of Peoria, Ill. and her colleagues have noted significant increases in the number of underage gamblers.

“It’s mostly male, and it almost always starts out betting on high school sports, then college, professional … these kids can lose thousands of dollars, and it becomes a lifelong problem,” White said. “Is it a growing problem? Absolutely.”

Accessibility is the name of the game. The Internet brings all the gambling you can want to your fingertips, should a casino be out of reach. The Internet also offers anonymity, which is certainly a bonus to problematic gamblers. Sgt. Todd Dearing of the Grapevine Police Department said there have been no gambling-related arrests in the city since at least the mid 1970s, and that no underage compulsive gambling had been brought to the department’s attention.