Teenage Gambling Addiction

www.gamblinghelper.com The PowerPoint is property of Lane County Health & Human Services in Oregon. While we do not charge for any material, we do request that credit be given for our materials when they are redistributed. Julie Hynes Problem Gambling Prevention Coordinator Lane County Health & Human Services [email protected] http Gambling is on the rise among young people between the ages of 18 and 24, according to a survey commissioned by the Responsible Gambling Council. The survey, which examined the gambling behaviours and attitudes of 3604 young adults in Ontario, said poker games and online gambling have grown in popularity since 2001. Anik Bay, a project co-ordinator with the Responsible Gambling Council, was at Cambrian College this week to talk to students about the risks of gambling. “Teens had a higher risk (compared to other age groups) in our previous study, but what we’ve found is that the incidents of Internet gambling, especially poker, has risen in that age group.” The survey goes on to show that 6.9 percent of young people have a severe gambling problem, more than double the provincial average. A large number of young people said they gambled for entertainment but more than 20 percent said they wanted to win money. About 15 percent said they wanted to win back money they’d lost. A problem gambler is someone who thinks about the game all the time, skips school or work to gamble or spends more money than they intended, Bay said. www …