From offices to bars, Americans are spending millions betting on March Madness brackets.
But the NCAA basketball tournament can be a losing game for young adults.
The National Council of Problem Gambling reported last year that 60% to 80% of high school students gambled at least once in 2023. Meanwhile, a 2023 NCAA study found that nearly 60% of 18 to 22 year olds surveyed bet on games. On college campuses, it was even higher, with nearly 70% of students placing bets.
Clinical therapist Megan Loesch of OhioGuidestone in New Philadelphia recently was certified to work with the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio to help educate and raise awareness of sports betting and other forms of gambling as an addictive behavior.
Loesch said that because sports betting is now so widespread, it’s become normalized, which ignores the potential danger for youngsters. This year, Ohio For Responsible Gambling, added a “Gift Responsibility” section to its website to help Ohioans understand why certain gift ideas, such as lottery tickets, may not be the best fit for children.
“I mean, you’re seeing it on commercials everywhere, especially right now,” she said. “Even when you’re doing (March Madness) brackets between families, there’s no age limit on those, so we’re seeing those become popular as well.”
The American Gaming Association estimates that Americans overall will legally wager $3.1 billion on this year’s men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, up from $2.7 billion last year.
When it comes to underaged betting, Loesch said, parents should be on the lookout for warning signs.
“Are they getting, you know, a crazy euphoria feeling out of nowhere? When they’re watching the basketball games, are they getting irritated when maybe a certain player doesn’t do so well?” she asked. “We also look at teenagers maybe selling possessions, selling their clothes, or selling game systems to have money, or maybe potentially lying to family and friends, or they’re spending their paycheck or money from their parents on betting while asking for more money. Those type of things.”
Loesch said cognitive behavioral therapy is an option helping addicted teens.
“We work to replace the euphoria feeling that they get from gambling with what are some potentially, more healthy things they can do,” she said.
She said OhioGuidestone also tries to make parents aware that their betting can make it a learned behavior for their children.
“In helping to educate the parents, we’re hoping that kind of trickles down to the teenagers,” she said.
Loesch said researchers are studying a possible link between gambling addiction and suicide risk.
“There is a large correlation,” she sad. “A lot of times, college students will spend their financial aid reimbursements. We’ve also seen college athletes and high school athletes who are being picked on; athletes that are 17, 18 years old, fresh out of high school, and they’ll be getting death threats on Facebook and Twitter. ‘I hope you bust your knee, because you blew my $50.'”
Kenneth Buzzelli, a clinical counselor at Comprehensive Psychiatric Services in Beachwood, agrees there are signs that can alert parents to a child’s betting problem — from quitting hobbies and other social activities to disappearing into their rooms.
While it’s normal for teens to want some privacy, he said, parents need to be more aware.
“You know, almost like parenting by wandering around,” he said. “‘My son or our daughter’s been up in the room for hours. I should probably just go check and see what they’re doing.’ It’s kind of like a disappearing act. Or they may not come home and may be going to someone else’s house to do it. It could be declining grades, or disinterest in being around the family (because of) a greater preoccupation with either gaming or gambling.”
While certain personality types may more susceptible to a gaming or betting addiction, Buzzelli said, it could happen to anybody.
“What we do know is there could be a biological disposition towards any type of an addiction,” he said. “If there happens to be any type of addiction in the family, they might have a little more risk. Certainly, kids who are risky in general, who are very impulsive, they could be more likely to do it, but also some children who could be depressed.
“This might be their way … either by gaming or gambling, to get a name for themselves. They can brag about it. Whether they win or lose, they’re going to tell people, like any gambler, ‘I’m winning more than I’m losing.’ So, certainly, for risky kids who may not have that many friends, this becomes their new friend.”
Buzzelli said the brain’s neurotransmitters play a huge part in why sports betting can become addictive to kids.
“Some of them, you know, start off doing decent if they know a lot about sports and they win a bunch,” he said. “But they don’t have much to show for it because it goes back in. Other kids are telling me that they’re trying to trade cryptocurrency for $4,000 or $5,000. … Once their brain starts leaning towards that, it looks for that; it’s exciting. And many of them just like being in that zone. That’s why, when they win money, they don’t take it and leave. For many of them, it’s not about the money, it’s about being in the zone.
“They’ll tell me, ‘I should have just left, but I kept on, I burned through another $2,000 and I walked away with nothing or in more debt because I went to the ATM machine.’ It just becomes exhausting.”
Though gambling is restricted to adults 21 and older, Buzzelli said, today’s kids are so technologically sophisticated, they easily find ways around the rules. Money-transfer apps make it even easier.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” he said. “Back in our day, it would be flipping baseball cards on the playground or throwing quarters or pennies. Now it’s exponential to where it’s just exploded.”
For more information, contact the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline. Confidential support from trained specialists is available 24/7 by calling 800-589-9966 or texting 4HOPE to 741741.
Ohio Guidestone is a provider for the National Problem Gambling Hotline at 800-426-2537.
“So if a family member does call into that hotline, they will get directly linked to us if they’re in our area and they’ll get set up with one of our providers,” Loesch said.
Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com
On Twitter: @cgoshayREP
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