|
|
|
 |
Study Shows Sports Cause of Problem Gambling Among Youth
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA --
The yearly National Annenberg Survey of Youth has been released, and the numbers the report contains may open some eyes. While participation by those in the age range from fourteen to twenty-two at online casinos remains low, and in fact has declined in the area of Internet poker, sports gambling has emerged as a major area of concern.
The anti-gambling factions have pushed for the ban of online gambling as the best way to protect children from exposure, but the survey reveals that, despite all the laws and persecutions of the US Department of Justice, more than 700,000 in the subject age group manage to gamble online at least once a month.
But even more telling is the increase in those who take part in sports gambling once a month or more frequently. This number rose in the last year from 20.7 percent to 26.4 percent. Weekly participants last year made up 5 percent of the surveyed youth; this year it was 9.7 percent.
So those who seek to censor the Internet to enforce a gambling prohibition can learn two things from these statistics: the ban has failed to protect anyone, and sports are far more effective inducements to gamble than computers. Indeed, the proliferation of sports coverage may be viewed as more dangerous and enticing to adolescents considering gambling than online casinos have ever been.
Perhaps Spencer Bachus and his cohorts at Focus on the Family will suggest a prohibition on televised sports starting with the game that is the giant of US sports gambling, the National Football League. Perhaps the reason the NFL's public stance is so rabidly anti-gambling is because the league fears the public may see the truth, as illustrated by the Annenberg numbers: the NFL leads more teenagers to problem gambling than all the Internet casinos rolled into one.
Previous USA Casino News Articles
Post A Comment
|
 |
|
|
|
