Deal them in
BY MELANIE CSEPIGA
Times Correspondent | Monday, March 22, 2004
Tom, 17, of Chesterton, says he plays Texas Hold'em, a form of poker, for money about every other weekend with a group of friends.
The National Honor Society member, who has a summer job and enjoys a variety of sports, says it's good, clean fun.
"It's nice being able to hang out with friends and not have to go out all of the time and spend money. Even if we play cards for free, we still get to have fun," Tom said.
Amber, 17, also of Chesterton, agrees.
"I love playing cards with a group of my friends. The fact that we play for money just makes it a little more fun, like we are playing for a purpose. It's never a lot of money, just 5 dollars, so either you lose 5 bucks or you can gain like 30. It's really a pretty sweet deal," she said.
According to a survey on teen gambling in Indiana, Tom and Amber are not unlike their counterparts across the state.
Conducted eight years ago by Louisiana State University, the survey results at that time found about 90 percent of Hoosier students had gambled at some point.
Jerry Long, program director for gambling prevention and treatment services for the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction, said the numbers may have changed since the study, adding, "Teen gambling is definitely an issue today."
Like adults, Long said, teens who occasionally gamble in any form do not experience adverse effects, but teens are more likely to develop a gambling problem than adults.
"They simply don't have the life experience ... Different people, no matter the age, are predisposed to react differently to substance abuse, gambling and other addictions. Some are easier victims," Long said, adding 6 percent of consistent, adult gamblers will have a problem, and 1 percent of adult gamblers will have a pathological problem; that is, their lives' pursuits will be disrupted by gambling.
For Amber, the Texas Hold'em nights are more about good times than money.
"It is always a fun time, and, of course, if you win the money, it's a nice bonus, but it's no big deal if you lose," she said, adding, "A group of us just sit around and play until we are out, and, once we're out, we either sit and watch the game or play video games or watch movies. The game can take a long time."
Tom agrees.
"This winter, we've been playing after basketball games on Friday nights. We start about 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m., and the game lasts until anywhere between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. This is with about five or six people," he said, adding, "It is a long game. Most of my friends aren't really strict, so if people want to take breaks, we just deal them out for as long a they'd like."
Both Amber and Tom are savvy enough to know that some teens can get carried away with gambling, but say their game, with its $5 initial ante, keeps them on an even keel.
"Every once in a while we will raise the stakes some when we have more people, but that opportunity doesn't come around a lot," Tom said.
Teens are regularly exposed to gambling through lottery tickets as Christmas stocking stuffers, parents who visit the casinos and online where there is a proliferation of teen-targeted gambling sites.
"One of my friends sent me a link to a site called Party Poker that you can download, and I play that all the time ... It gives you really good practice," Amber said, adding, "I've never gambled in any other ways."
Said Tom, "I've bet on a lot of things. He added he and a friend had a wager over a problem in their economics class last semester.
"I'll put money down on certain games, but nothing major. It's always some off-the-wall bet."
The parents of those in Amber's and Tom's group don't have a problem with teen betting, the teens say.
"My mother knows that I play, and she thinks that it's funny, I guess, but she really doesn't mind that I do it. She sees it as a good time for me and my friends to get together," Amber said.
Likewise, Tom said his parents, who enjoy an occasional trip to Las Vegas, know of the gambling, and, in fact, his mother has played with the kids a couple of times.
"My dad's only advice to me was, 'Don't bet money that you don't have.'"
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