“The fact is that gambling has become a fixture in our society. World-class poker competitions attract millions of television viewers, and it is easy to gamble — legally or not — on the Internet.
Most adults can handle recreational gambling. But many kids cannot.
Proponents of legalized gambling maintain that only a small percentage of adults who gamble — about 5% — become addicts. But what about teens and preteens?…”
Categories: Opinion
“Underage gambling is a problem both onshore and offshore. While the government would like the public to believe that protections are in place to stop minors from gambling in brick and mortar casinos, at racetracks or on the lottery, studies have shown that minors are able to gamble in America and do so frequently. Fake identification is easily obtained, and in the case of lotteries often the merchants who sell the tickets aren’t concerned with verifying age.
Nevertheless, at least in a brick and mortar establishment visual contact can be made with the individual and identification can be requested, so if the minor is able to bet it is strictly due to the negligence of those monitoring the establishments. Online it’s not so simple since the individual is unseen. Filters are generally good for keeping very young children from visiting gambling websites, but teenagers usually can get around them. Besides, today most teenagers have their own computers, and even if they are using a family computer it is unlikely they will have the websites restricted by their parents…”
Categories: Opinion
