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By Parker Fields
Being a teenager in the modern day is riddled with stress and struggles. With school assignments, grades, friends, family, and extracurriculars flooding our schedules, any kind of stress relief available is a holy grail. For some select students, vaping has been an outlet for stress relief and a sense of calm—which is a direct cause for more stress and anxiety. However, a new addiction that, like vaping, is advertised as safe and shown in a more positive light, is grabbing a hold of teens: gambling.
In 2018, the federal law restricting sports gambling was lifted, and since that date, 38 states have cashed in to allow their citizens to sports bet, one of them being Kentucky. In less than a year $656 million has been put on the line by Kentuckians, with $629 million, a large majority, coming from online websites and apps. For the longest time, speaking of money lines and parlays was forbidden and highly frowned upon by large news outlets such as ESPN; however, now ESPN has their own sportsbook and constantly shows Kevin Hart promoting DraftKings. A blend of appealing advertising and “quick” money promises, has led to a rise in gambling addictions and depression, most critically targeted towards men aged 18-30. Due to no federal funding dedicated to gambling research, the long term effects on mental and financial health are slim to none. It’s an invisible disease that is creeping into our school.
A very critical aspect of the recent gambling craze is the ease of which you can bet. For the sake of this article, I decided to see how quickly I was able to bypass restrictions on gambling apps. At 10:20am I installed the app PrizePicks onto my cell phone. After entering my email, name, address, and creating a password, I was in. By 10:22am I was on the home page and able to place bets on the NBA game tonight. However, to avoid legal issues, there is a single guardrail to halt those who are underaged. A simple honor code that asks the consumer for their birthday. With nearly every person attempting to gamble knowing the age requirements, a simple lie on the year you were born lowers the app's guards and you are set free. I did not place any bets while on the app.
Not only is it simple to get onto a betting website or app, but in one swipe you are able to bet as much or as little as you want on any game, play, or player available. Along with the lack of control, there’s no regulation on sites such as PrizePicks or FanDuel—you could place down bet after bet and the apps will keep notifying you to place more, because why would a company not want you to spend your money?
To keep the money flowing, companies use strategies to get their audience hooked and not let go. Flip through any ESPN broadcast and chances are that a commercial break will feature some sort of advertisement for a sports book. The advertising for these companies has gotten so out of hand that the NFL had to regulate how many ads about gambling were allowed to be shown during the Super Bowl. Constant criticism of the marketing for these apps has been overwhelming in the past few years, with recovering addicts being a group felt most targeted.
FOX and NBCUniversal have now allied with these sports book apps to ensure that marketing doesn’t target minors. All this talk on marketing targeting minors sounds very similar to the situation with the vaping brand, JUUL: which was fined $462 million and remains under investigation by the FDA for that very reason.
“I place a bet every single day,” said an underaged teen who claims to be an avid gambler. With the bookies for these sites being completely digitized, there are no dealers or casino owners who can spot an underaged person gambling. They remain undetected, hidden behind their phone screens.
This student isn’t a needle in the haystack—if anything, they’re in the majority. If you walk into any typical science class before the bell rings, or any lunch period, you’ll most likely see poker or Texas Hold’em open on school Chromebooks with real students' money on the line.
Teachers can even see the backlash of gambling addictions. Teachers across Bowling Green High School agree that, “Phones have been becoming more and more of a problem every day.” This isn’t the normal case of students scrolling through Twitter or Instagram, they’re indulging in their urge to put up some cash on a flimsy bet.
“I one hundred percent have an addiction,” said the same student. “I’ve never actually attempted to quit, but hopefully once I’m in college I’ll be able to stop.”
There aren’t any telltale signs of a gambling problem. If a student took out a vape or a bottle of alcohol in class, of course, a teacher would immediately be able to identify it, but when a student whips out their Chromebook and is dealt a hand of virtual blackjack? Not so easy to spot.
Not only is it impossible to spot, but that in turn makes it difficult to stop. There aren't any definite physical signs or cues of a gambling addiction. So referring a friend or family member to counseling or other helpful resources for recovery is tough.
Scientific research shows that the risk-reward system for young men isn’t fully formed until the age of 25, meaning the implications of gambling costs isn’t completely realized. These major sports book corporations know exactly what their consumers are thinking. Their highly intelligent AI systems study each user thoroughly to collect data on the exact type of notifications and opportunities that a specific person is most likely to wager on. These robot generated odds are facilitated in the hopes that you lose.
It’s simply a matter of Man vs. Machine, or in this case, Man vs. AI.
Gambling isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last in the string of unhealthy habits that plague teenagers, which makes it crucial that we don’t let this invisible disease grow any more powerful before it turns into a silent assassin.
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