Is the Money Worth Your Future?
By: Rhea Rechav (12)
On February 12, 1995 Assistant County Prosecutor Fred C. Franco Junior was patrolling his usual city of Newark, New Jersey when suddenly he spotted a frantic child on the side of the road waving him down. With tears running down his face and terror in his eyes, the 14-year-old explained to the officer he had been kidnapped by his fellow classmates. The officer was shocked to hear the reason behind the ruthless kidnapping: the young boy owed $500 to a sports gambling ring being run in his own high school.
The 14-year-old boy led the officer to the house of the gambling ring, where $10,000 in bets, a list of gamblers, and their phone numbers were discovered. The culprits, Herbert Hoffman and two other 17-year olds, were arrested soon after. All were eventually released on a $50,000 bail.
In 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders recognized gambling as an addiction, almost identical to substance addiction. Everyone can enjoy a fun game of chance, or place minuscule bets on who will win the Playoffs every once in a while, however, this is only the beginning of developing an addiction. The risk versus reward factor of gambling causes the brain to release a small dose of dopamine, the “feel-good” hormone. Drugs increase your dopamine release by 10 times the normal amount, and it has recently been proven gambling has the same effect. As your brain becomes more conditioned to dopamine highs, you begin to do whatever it takes to achieve the same rush gambling first created for you. At this stage you must ask yourself, is lying to your friends and family, stealing money, and isolating yourself from everyone and all activities worth gambling?
70% of teenagers have admitted to some sort of gambling, and 1 in 3 regularly gambles. The practice of gambling skyrocketed when online rings developed. In today’s day and age, all that is needed to gamble is access to the internet and a credit card, things almost every teenager in America has available to them. These websites are deceiving; the odds are almost always in the favor of the creators of the software, therefore making it near impossible to win any money. Children are sacrificing their relationships, their physical/mental health, and their futures in search of a reward they will never receive.
The symptoms of underage gambling are extensive and may be hard to recognize, but it is important to be aware for the sake of yourself and your peers who may be suffering with an addiction. Repeated lying, sudden mood swings (signs of depression, anxiety, or stress), withdrawal from friends and activities they used to enjoy, unexplained absences and poor grades, constant borrowing of cash, unexplained debts, poor sleep habits and hygiene, and spending countless hours on the internet are all warning signs of underage gambling. Leaving a gambling problem untreated is setting up a lifetime of failed relationships and financial burden. High schoolers who partake in gambling regularly are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, engage in unsafe sex, and drop out of school.
If a teenager is caught trying to slip into a casino underage, the legal punishments are extensive. The only way to access a gambling casino under the age of twenty-one is to show a fake ID. If caught with fake identification card, it would impose a mandatory fine of $500 and up to 6 months of jail for offenders of any age, including teenagers. Repeat offenders can pay up to $1,000 and spend a year in jail. Perpetrators of gambling under twenty-one years old are charged with a misdemeanor. In the state of Missouri, misdemeanors remain on your criminal record for a minimum of ten years until you are eligible to file for expungement. Even if a misdemeanor is removed from your criminal record, any reasonable background check would be able to identify it. The misdemeanor will follow you around for life and make it near impossible to get accepted into college, the military, any sort of post-secondary program, and any profession which requires a background check.
Underage gambling can be tempting in the social scene, however, it is dangerous and must be avoided. Addiction can start without you even realizing it, and before then it will be too late. The consequences are not worth the gain of a potential few extra dollars. Beginning to gamble in the teenage years will start a lifetime of isolation and illegal activities. Think twice the next time you have an opportunity to bet money on the results of your high school football team or before you join into a friendly game of poker during your lunch period. Your life could suffer from it.