Compulsive Gambling Poses Significant Threat to College Students
By Hugh C. McBride
It is impossible to deny the degree to which football has become an integral part of the college experience in the United States.
From the hundreds of thousands of fans who fill college stadiums every autumn Saturday, to the wall-to-wall coverage on network and cable television stations, to the millions of dollars that are spent on team-emblazoned shirts, jerseys, caps and other merchandise (including -- really -- team logo-adorned caskets), football is as much a part of university life as are all-night study sessions and dorm room pizza.
But while the majority of college students regard their school team as a means of boosting morale (or an excuse for a weekly party), some are affected in a way that threatens their health, their finances and their futures.
Problem Gambling on College Campuses
Experts estimate that between 5 and 9 percent of male college students and 1 to 2 percent of college women have a gambling problem. Though the terms that are used to identify these problems may vary -- including, for example, gambling addiction, compulsive gambling and pathological gambling -- the symptoms are relatively consistent, and are marked by an inability to control one's gambling-related behaviors.
Information provided by the University of Villanova indicates that the following are four of the most common signs that a college student may have a gambling problem:
- A preoccupation or obsession with gambling
- A need to bet increasing amounts of money with increasing frequency
- Restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop gambling or when unable to place a bet
- An inability to stop gambling, even after having experienced significant negative consequences as a result of gambling
“Problem gambling is not defined by the frequency of gambling, but rather, by the disruption gambling causes in the person’s life," the Villanova University website reports. "Aspects of life affected include: psychological, physical, social, vocational. For college students, adverse consequences might include missing classes, failing grades, sleep deprivation and financial debt."
A Devastating Disorder
In a Jan. 2, 2007, NCAA News article, writers Marc Isenberg and Rick Rhoads reported that 90 percent of compulsive gamblers place their first bet by the time they are 14 years old. "Gambling is one subject in which college freshman arrive well prepared," Isenberg and Rhoads wrote.
By the time they reach university age -- and, in many cases, begin to experience heretofore unprecedented freedoms -- young compulsive gamblers are at risk for spiraling out of control. The picture that Isenberg and Rhoads painted is far from a pretty one:
As college gamblers lose more and more (and virtually everybody engaged in third-party gambling loses), they keep in action by borrowing from other students; maxing out their credit cards; lying to their parents; and even by credit-card fraud, theft and drug dealing.
Some support their gambling habit by becoming bookies; athletes who gamble may sell information to gamblers or agree to shave points.
In a July 19, 2005, article on the website CampusProgress.org, Loyola University student Lauren Patrizi provided a personal look at the rapidity with which one apparently innocuous bet can morph into a potentially devastating disorder:
After watching a poker tournament on television I thought that the game looked entertaining. I decided to go online and see if I could play. I really had no clue that you could even access real money tournaments. I just thought I could find the poker equivalent of those minesweeper games that come on your computer.
At 19 years old, I did not believe I would be able to access any real gambling programs. However, the process was seamless. What was once a $20 bet “just for fun” became hundreds and then well over a thousand dollars of debt.
I had pretty much everything to lose – college funds, credit card payments, a debt-free life. I am not even entirely sure how much I have spent over the last six months and I really don’t want to know.
The Struggle to Abstain
Patrizi eventually realized she had a problem and began taking the steps needed to regain control of her life. "After a last, desperate $50 bet to try to cut my losses, I knew that I needed to stop," she wrote. "I finally told my family and backed away from the computer."
But ending a problem gambling habit is neither simple nor easy. In a society that sends out decidedly mixed signals about gambling -- many forms of gambling are illegal, yet states sponsor lotteries and almost every newspaper lists point spreads for college and pro games -- it can be quite challenging to ignore the many opportunities to place a "harmless bet."
And with online fantasy football leagues, Internet gambling sites and almost inescapable college and pro football pools, achieving a state of gambling abstinence can appear to be an impossible task.
But it can be done.
Colleges and universities appear to be paying increasing attention to the problem of compulsive or pathological gambling among students, and gambling awareness programs have even been instituted in some high schools.
If you or someone you care about has been exhibiting signs of a gambling problem, know that this isn't just a rite of passage or a "college phase." From ruined credit to academic failure to financial disaster, compulsive gambling in college can leave a trail of devastation that can take years, if not decades, to clean up.
Depending upon the nature and severity of one's problem with gambling, as well as the presence of any co-occurring addictions, compulsions or other mental health issues, overcoming a gambling problem can involve outpatient therapy, participation in a support group such as Gamblers Anonymous, or enrollment in a residential treatment facility.
Regardless of how out-of-control a pathological gambler's life has become, effective treatments exist and long-term recovery is possible. But taking those first steps -- admitting the presence of a problem and reaching out for the help that is available -- is essential.