Oregon Launches Gambling Initiative
The explosion in the popularity of poker has some counselors at the
University of Oregon worried about addictions among the student residents.
Traditionally , gambling addictions have come in a distance behind other
campus problems and therefore hasn’t garnered the same attention as things
like drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and bias issues.
Part of the problem that gambling addictions haven’t received as much
attention as well is the fact that the resources have not been available
either to study the phenomenon or to deal with it.
Earlier studies had found that about 2 percent of college students and 4
percent of teenagers in the United States were addicted to gambling. This
was evidenced most clearly during March Madness, when the annual NCAA
college basketball tournament tips off a spike in gambling on college
campuses throughout the country. Now that there is easy access for college
students to video poker machines and slots. Not to mention the even easier
access to online poker sites, state officials are anticipating trouble.
Earlier studies on campus gambling addiction were competed before the online
poker boom exploded, and even before the current poker craze that is
sweeping through North America and the globe. The state of Oregon is
concerned with anecdotal evidence which shows that it is a common pastime
for students to play poker online during lectures, and play live games in
residence halls and apartments, engagement that can lead to financial
problems that can lead to major setbacks in a student’s education.
Some counselors at the University of Oregon claim of speaking to students
whose roommates and friends have had trouble kicking the poker habit. Part
of the problem, the counselors believe, is the easy access students have to
credit cards. There is concern that students who run up gambling debts on
their credit cards will begin dipping in to their tuition money. Some
students are even beginning to take semesters off to try and recoup gambling
losses.
All of this evidence has caused the state of Oregon to announce that it is
going to launch its first ever problem gambling initiative aimed at college
campuses. The program is going to be financed by lotteries, and will offer
technical assistance and resources so that colleges can set up programs to
help students who may have a gambling problem. It is believed that the
number now sits at about one in twenty.
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