If we had warning sirens to alert us to social catastrophes — like sirens warn us of approaching floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes — we would have a thousand alarms blaring across the land from coast to coast. The reason: a burgeoning tidal wave of legalized gambling and its impact on young people (especially young men).
Last fall, I wrote a column on the coming gambling addiction crisis, titled “The most predictable scandal in recent sports history.” Now, additional data has surfaced confirming the possible future impact of gambling addiction on our nation’s young adults.
A front-page article inUSA TODAY, titled “Kids Delve Into Sports Betting” by Nick Penzenstadler, proclaims the distressing news that more than one-third of adolescent boys have participated in the last 12 months in gambling through legal outlets (30% of 11- to 13-year-olds and 41% of 14- to 17-year-olds). Most of these youngsters bet on legalized sports books, and while some of them are caught while betting as minors, they resumed as soon as they turned 21.
Unfortunately, according to Jim Whelan, executive director of the Tennessee Institute for Gambling Education and Research at The University of Memphis, “the top two predictors of adult problem gambling are: you have a parent with a gambling problem and starting at a young age.”
These gambling facts serve as a harbinger of a tidal wave of financial and personal heartbreak for multiple thousands of young men who will have their financial and often their personal futures destroyed or seriously diminished by gambling addiction.
Click here to read more (Originally Published at The Christian Post)
