Current Events: Teen gambling: new report says it's now a serious - and growing

BOSTON, Moss. - John Smith (not his real name) is a teen-age addict.

No, he's not hooked on drugs nor alcohol nor smoking. He's hooked on gambling. He struggles daily to resist the temptation to take all his money and bet it - on anything.

Now 18, john began gambling at age 13, when he was in eighth grade. He and his friends began flipping quarters after school for fun.

Most of his friends just enjoyed the game. But John was different. When he won, he felt on top of the world. When he lost, he wanted only to win again. By ninth grade, john was betting heavily on sports. He'd bet $10, then $50, then more. He couldn't stop. Once a good student, john began failing courses. He got involved with bookies - people who place bets for gamblers - and bet heavily on sports events and on horse races.

Sometimes John would win. But most of the time he lost. To get money. he stole from his parents, "$5 or $10 - no major crimes," he says. He sold his stereo and video games. Then he sold drugs. He kept telling himself he'd stop all of this once he won really big. But he never did.

Then one dark December day, John was arrested breaking into his own house in an effort to steal his family's silverware and other valuables. He had hoped to disguise the break-in as the work of a burglar. As part of his sentence, john was required to join Gamblers Anonymous (GA), an organization for gambling addicts. Now he feels he's on the road to recovery.

Millions Like John

How many teens are there like John?

Millions, say recent reports about teen gambling. The reports are full of stories similar to John's.

* In Washington state, a teenage girl was charged with first-degee theft after stealing a coin collection from the family she baby-sat for to get money to gamble.

* In Nutley Township, N.J., two 17-year-olds and a 19-year-old are accused of trying to scare a 14-year-old into paying the $500 he owed bookies by forcing the kid into a car and dumping him in a highcrime section of Newark, N.J.

* A 17-year-old New York teen recently drove to Atlantic City, N.J., where he lost $11,000 of his parents' money playing blackjack. He returned home and unsuccessfully tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills. After failing to commit suicide, he declared "I think that's the first bet I was glad I lost."

Experts say that such stories are only the tip of the iceberg and that teen gambling is growing at an alarming rate. A Minnesota study shows that up to 90 percent of young people have gambled in one form or another before age 18, even if it's just a bet to see who can nm to the comer the quickest. Experts say teens are illegally betting from $500 million to 1 billion or more a year.

Teens More Vulnerable

Though gambling is a problem throughout society, recent studies show that teens are twice as likely as adults to become problem gamblers. Durand Jacobs, a psychologist who conducted a series of studies of students in five states, estimates that as many as 10 million teens in the United States regularly gamble illegally and that as many as a million of them become gambling addicts. (It is illegal in all 50 states for people under age 18 to gamble - even to buy a lottery ticket.)

For a growing number of kids, the "rush" of betting is the most important thing in their Eves.

Experts Blame Society

Many experts blame much of the increase in teen gambling on the increasing acceptance of gambling throughout our society. Almost every state now has some kind of lottery, and many states also have gambling casinos. Experts also say more adults see gambling as fun - and this attitude nibs off on kinds.

"How can we begin to know how to deal with teen gambling when the nation is glorifying gambling, and when the state is the biggest bookie in town?," asks Dr. Henry Lesieur of Illinois State University.

One 17-year-old Kansas City teen says that, at his high school, students throw dice in the gym, bathroom, or wherever they can escape the gaze of adults.

"If a person's got money and you want some of it, you play," he says. "I don't see anything wrong with gambling. The adults do it. Why can't we?"

"We're developing a generation of problem gamblers," says Ken Winters, director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse at the University of Minnesota.

Winters and others call for national action to bring attention to the often sad results of teen gambling, and for parents, teachers, and teens themselves to look for solutions to this growing problem.