West Virginia Experts Worry about Gambling Addiction in Youths, Student-Athletes

The rise of sports gambling has mostly been welcomed by Americans, although growing skepticism among both bettors and non-bettors is perceptible as per a new YouGov study, and especially now that several major scandals are unfolding across the main sports leagues in the country.

West Virginia’s Helplines See More and More Young People Phoning In

West Virginian experts are also sounding an alarm over the susceptibility of youths and student-athletes to harmful gambling practices.

First Choice Services, which is the operator of the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline, has raised an alarm over the number of callers represented from these two groups, with more young people apparently falling into bad habits and struggling to control their gambling.

Worse still, many find it easy to access the activity and are constantly reminded of its existence through gambling ads and promotional messages that are everywhere.

First Choice Services warns that mobile betting and casinos have become an even greater issue still, with the organization’s director of marketing and communications, Sheila Moran, having this to add:

“It is very common to see casino nights for prom and graduations. A lot of people buy lottery tickets for underage kids for Christmas and birthdays. A lot of people have the attitude, ‘well at least it’s not drugs,’ but actually, gambling addiction can be just as devastating as any other addiction. In fact, it has one of the highest rates of suicide of any addiction.”

Young people are particularly susceptible to suffering from lifelong complications related to their gambling addiction, with the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom recently arguing in a study that those aged 20-24 and suffering from a gambling addiction were, in fact, four times more likely to commit suicide.

Studies Raise Alarm over Gambling Impact on Youths

The study was one of the most ambitious to be conducted in this way, and it tracks individuals from their birth, factoring in socioeconomic factors that have led people to end up gambling and the impact of those activities afterwards.

As more athletes in the United States are being scrutinized over their participation in unauthorized gambling, calls from West Virginia to help protect young people are timely. There are more studies to bear out the same conclusions.