Gambling Among College Students:
A Growing Problem
A
bout six million Americans are addicted to gambling. That’s a large number, but it doesn’t tell the whole story – problem gambling affects far more people than you might realize. Each one of those six million people has family and friends who are hurt by the lies and financial and emotional instability which are the collateral damage wrought by problem gambling. Many of us continue to view gambling as being a harmless behavior with no possible harmful or negative consequences. Problem gambling is becoming increasingly prevalent among people in college, as gambling is both more accessible and acceptable on college campuses than ever. Students are just a couple of mouse clicks away from being able to gamble on their laptop computers and off-shore gambling sites advertise in campus newspapers. Young adults are inundated with the message that gambling is a fun, benign pastime. As a result, a young adult in a rural college town can develop a gambling problem as easily as his grandmother who lives in a big-city retirement community.
42 Arizona Gaming Guide | October 2012 | azgamingguide.com
One national survey found that twenty percent of males and five percent of female students reported wagering on collegiate sporting events in the past year. Experts tell us that students with gambling problems aren’t taking advantage of the counseling and treatment available to them, because they don’t think of gambling as being as serious as other addictive behaviors. The stigma of seeking help for a gambling problem also keeps some students from coming forward. If you think you may have a problem with your gambling – whether you’re a college student or not – I urge you to get help. Log onto the problemgambling.az.gov website or call 1-800-NEXTSTEP to get more information on realistic ways to get the help you need. Together, we can diminish the impact of problem gambling in Arizona.
Rick Pyper—Director Arizona Office of Problem Gambling