From casinos and horse tracks, to bookies and illicit poker rooms, more and more college students are betting money they don’t have to lose, in hopes of making a quick buck.
“Once I had to put my computer in the pawn shop for almost a month to keep my bookie off my back,” said a U of M freshman who wishes to remain anonymous.
“But I don’t ever get that far into it anymore. If I go down $100, I don’t bet anymore until I have that paid off.”
“Of all the age groups, studies have concluded that college students have the highest percentage of problem (gamblers) or pathological gamblers,” said Jeremiah Wenestock, graduate student at the University of Memphis, and adviser for the universitiy’s gambling clinic.
So why are college students more likely to fall into pathological gambling than, say, 30- or 40-year-olds?
“Generally the older we get, the more responsibility we incur,” said Ken Winters, associate professor of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. “When you have two or three car payments in addition to insurance, a mortgage and a few kids, play money just no longer exists,” Winters said. “College students are more interested in partying.”
In fact, his own research shows a distinct correlation between alcohol and drug use and pathological gambling.
Winters submitted to the United States Senate a proposal regarding youth and young adult problem gambling, in which he suggests that the best estimate of college students who suffer from pathologic gambling, is between 3 and 5 percent.
The percentage includes students who have sought out help for their illness, not students with gambling problems who refuse to seek help from an outside source.
“Many times it is the case that when a student has gotten in over their head with a gambling debt, the last thing they want to do is talk to a counselor or make it a public issue,” Winters said.
On the University of Memphis campus, problem gamblers have easy access to a number of gambling outlets. The Southland Greyhound track is just over the bridge in West Memphis, and Tunica is only an hour to the south.
But it is not just the casinos or the track that lure U of M students looking to make a bet.
“Another frequent source of gambling for college students is sports betting,” Winters said.
Bookies are not hard to find on campus, according to the U of M freshman.
“Actually mine is in the same fraternity I am. So when it comes time to collect, he isn’t that hard to get a hold of.”
College campuses are notorious for having huge sports gambling rings, and fraternity houses are the perfect place for bookies, Winters said. Having 30 or 40 guys in one house makes it easy for the bookie to get his money and it also keeps it rather exclusive so the bookie doesn’t run much of a shot at getting caught.
“I probably put down a total of $300 or $400 on my bets per week, depending on how well I do,” said the anonymous freshman. “But I rarely play real big when I am down.”
Not knowing when to quit is a significant indicator of gambling addiction. “I have a guy right now who owes me $1300, and the worst part about it is he is still trying to place bets in hopes of getting out of the hole,” says one local Memphis bookie who asked to remain anonymous.
“What most people don’t understand is that the point spreads configured in Las Vegas for sport gambling are designed to keep the bookie in business and the bettor in debt.”
“Occasionally a bettor will get on a hot streak, but all streaks come to an end, and they usually end up putting every dollar I paid them, back into my pocket.”
While it is hard to pinpoint the exact percentage of increase in gambling among college students the most recent research has shown the amount of individual wagers students are now placing has almost doubled when compared with the figures for the ‘80s and early ‘90s, according to Wenestock.
Here on the U of M campus, measures are being taken to provide counseling and treatment to students who desire assistance in dealing with their pathological gambling problems.
The U of M founded an on-campus gambling clinic three years ago to provide students with counseling and advice in coping with gambling addictions.
The clinic is located in the psychology building at The U of M, room 126, and is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost for students is $3 per session and the process usually consists of f ive to 10 visits.
Wenestock said that the success rate for students who attend the first two sessions is usually very high, around 90 percent.
