Sunday, March 11, 2007

His gambling started with marbles in the schoolyard. By the time he was in
high school, he played poker with friends and considered himself a pool
shark. "I bounced a lot of checks; I stole a lot of money. . . . I would
pretty much gamble however much money I had available," he said. Gambling
cost him jobs, relationships and thousands of dollars, said Carson, who is a
member of Gamblers Anonymous and, as a result, doesn't give his last name
when speaking to the press. This morning, more than two years after laying
down his last bet, Carson will tell his story to a group of students at
Torrey Pines High School. The same risk-taking mindset that leads teenagers
to like skateboarding and extreme sports puts them at greater risk of
becoming problem gamblers than adults, said Fred Becker, a Carlsbad
educator. "They're apt to take higher risks," he said. "They're more
spontaneous in their actions. They're thrilled by the novelty of taking
risk. They don't have the skills of moderation, of long-term thinking."
Today's teens see ads for casinos and racetracks on television, billboards
and ballparks. They go to schools funded, in part, through the state
lottery. Many are big fans of televised poker tournaments and regularly play
poker for money with friends. And nearly all have access to the Internet,
where it's easy to gamble in secret. "This is the first generation of kids
growing up in a gambling-permissive society," said Bruce Roberts, head of
the California Council on Problem Gambling, a nonprofit group that is
helping coordinate the first-of-its-kind presentation at Torrey Pines High.
Underage gambling is a serious issue, said Charlene Simmons, assistant
director of the California Research Bureau. Studies have found that
"adolescents, particularly boys, who engage in adult forms of gambling are
more likely to develop into problem and pathological gamblers," she told
members of a state Senate committee last week. Data collected in Oregon
suggest "California could have as many as 600,000 adolescent problem and
pathological gamblers," Simmons said. Yet, Simmons said, "as far as I could
find out, no California lottery retailer, racetrack or card room has been
seriously disciplined for allowing . . . minors to engage in gambling."
It's unclear how prevalent gambling is among high school students. "We have
quite a few students who are active in gaming and gambling," said Scott
Chodorow, director of student activities at Torrey Pines. "To what extent, I
do not know." Poker is popular, he said. "That's the biggest game around
here, with all the press and ESPN's World Series of Poker, it's gotten a lot
of publicity," he said. Local Indian casinos are on the lookout for young
gamblers, Becker said. At Viejas, for instance, those 17 and younger are
allowed on the casino floor only if they're walking to a restaurant with an
adult, and not at all after 8 p.m. or before 8 a.m., said spokesman Robert
Scheid.

The casino does allow people 18 and older to gamble.

It has trained staff members to look for underage and problem gamblers, he
said.

"Ultimately, they're destructive to themselves, their families and their
communities," he said. "Frankly, it's not good for business."