As a teacher as well as an assemblyman, Anthony Impreveduto (D-32nd Dist.) learned first hand about the problem of teenage gambling. For 25 years he’s met students who bet on sports or horses.
“The stories of teens falling prey to the temptation of gambling’s get-rich-quick image are well documented,” Impreveduto said. “Too often these youthful dreams of bright lights and life in the fast lane result in self-destruction.”
While the vast majority of teenagers do not have a compulsive gambling problem, a small minority is considered insatiable gambling addicts, betting on everything from high school sports to roulette in Atlantic City gambling halls.
In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association accepted pathological (compulsive) gambling as a “disorder of impulse control.” Teenage compulsive gamblers are driven to gamble in the same way that an alcoholic needs a periodic drink or a drug addict needs a “fix.”
“Over the years, I have learned about some kids having serious problems with the gambling bug, problems that can be seen in schools throughout the state,” Impreveduto said.
Known for seeking better laws to combat compulsive teenage gambling, Impreveduto has been trying to get a program into the schools since 1992.
“Education is our most powerful weapon in fighting compulsive gambling among teenagers,” he said. On Oct. 16, the Assembly Education Committee approved Impreveduto’s legislation that would allow New Jersey schools to develop education programs warning students of the dangers of compulsive gambling. “Juvenile gambling threatens to reach epidemic proportions in this state,” Impreveduto said, noting that it is a problem that gets worse every day.
One survey of 50 New Jersey high schools in the early 1990s showed that more than 90 percent of students gamble at least once a year and more than 30 percent gamble once a week. Fourteen of the 19 schools investigated for teenage gambling by the police in 1992 were found in New Jersey.
A survey from the University of Minnesota indicates that youths are at four times the risk of adults for developing pathological (compulsive) gambling. In one year alone, Atlantic City casinos refused entry to approximately 194,000 underage gamblers, with another 21,000 caught on the casino floor. A 1995 USA Today study reported that 90 percent of teenagers gambled before the age of 18. The Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey reported that 9 percent of the calls to its helpline in 1996 were from persons under 21 years of age. Another study claimed that calls among youth jumped 200 percent between 1987 and 1993.
Several studies by National Council on Problem Gambling found 50 percent of high school students have gambled for money last year. Across the nation, teenagers are betting as much as $1 billion every year despite the illegality of it in every state. A study done by Illinois State University estimates that in the United States 6 to 8 percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 are problem gamblers.
“It is imperative that children are warned about the dangers of compulsive gambling before they fall prey to a sordid and desperate underworld of hustlers and loansharks,” Impreveduto said.
The bill requires instruction on compulsive gambling to be included as part of the Core Curriculum Content Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education. It would budget $200,000 for a contract with the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey to implement the gambling-control curriculum, similar to existing anti-alcohol and anti drug abuse programs currently in operation in the schools.
Working with the governor, the New Jersey legislature, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, the New Jersey Department of Education and other concerned officials and citizens, the council provides adolescent compulsive gambling identification, prevention or treatment information.
“Society sends the message that gambling is okay, but kids don’t realize what they are getting themselves into when they make their first bet,” Impreveduto said. “Teenagers have been exposed to the glamour side of gambling, but they aren’t aware of the serious dangers involved.”