PLAYERS TALK
PARENTS & UNDERAGE GAMBLING Exposure & Access Enables Alarming Behavior
Dear AZ Gaming Guide, I need your help because my sister-in-law and I, as well as several of our friends, are very concerned and we don’t know where or who to turn to for advice. Between all of us, we have children of various ages (boys and girls) who are in elementary school, high school and college. It started with a casual remark from one of our children (aged 16) that she made a lot of money gambling recently, as did her friends. Of course, my response was, “What do you mean?” And, “How are you able to gamble?!” Well, what she told me was unbelievable to me! “Mom, all the kids are gambling.” Excuse me, what did you say? Apparently, underage children, even as young as middle schoolers, are gambling online, on sports betting apps, through some social influencers, and even sneaking in to casinos. What is going on here? How is all of this possible and what regulations are in place to protect these kids? Is it really that easy to just log into a website or app and start gambling? How do you prove your age? It seems that with the influencers, kids are just giving money to people who are of legal age to go and gamble on their behalf. I see it all the time at the casinos … people are taping and talking while their phones are in the air recording what’s going on with the game. But I never, for one second, thought my child could have given the money over to someone to play on their behalf!! I am very, very worried as to what is going on here! I don’t even know where to begin! First of all, I’m thinking of going to the casino I play at the most (because at least the people know me there) and tell them that security should be more diligent in checking identification because apparently underage high school and college students are gambling in the casinos! Second of all, they should inquire about the people who are taping the games when they are playing! Although, how are they supposed to know they’ve been given money by underage kids? I’m really not sure how they can control that? My niece who is in college just told me that sports betting companies are advertising to them all the time and that the students actually get promo codes to gamble. What is going on?!! Maybe I sound naive, but I am in such disbelief as to what’s going on and I’m very, very frustrated and extremely concerned!! Nowadays, us parents have so many things to worry about because of the damn technology. How are we, as parents, supposed to keep up with all of this?!!! We’ve always tried to keep our kids safe when online. I thought I protected all of my children from all the horrors they could get into trouble with online like bullying, predators, pornography, etc. but gambling? Never, for a second, did I think I also had to worry about illegal gambling! I have several questions for you and I’m really hoping that someone at
your company can provide some answers for us. Please give us any advice you can. What do you know about what’s going on? How can we protect our children? Is there a state or national agency that is in charge of monitoring all of this activity or someone else we can turn to and report what we know? What about the casinos? Are they doing anything about this? Any help you can provide is much appreciated! If you can further investigate what I’ve told you that would be great. I’m hoping that you take my note and do an article to make other parents aware of what’s going on. I love your Players Talk, but if you print this, please do not use my real name. Can you just put Anonymous from Arizona? Thank you! Anonymous, thank you for reaching out to us. Unfortunately, you are not the only one who has brought this to our attention recently. There is a significant amount of underage gaming (legal & illegal) happening currently. The most popular legal gambling activities that underaged children are involved with are lottery tickets, sports betting apps, in-person casinos and online casinos. And, yes, we have also heard that some social influencers are pooling money from various sources which include underage gamblers. Gambling is one of the fastest growing addictions in America. In a recent survey conducted by Intelligent.com, more than 66% of college gamblers believe they already have a gambling problem and 60% of them say they have gambled illegally. In fact, 85% of those surveyed say they started gambling because of their school’s betting promotions. And, nearly half of all gamblers in college say they started gambling in middle or high school. Startling statistics! My team and I are currently doing an investigation and we will be publishing an article in an upcoming issue. We are currently talking to all the Arizona casinos, the Arizona Department of Gaming, Tribal Gaming Offices and Sports Betting companies to understand what policies and procedures they currently have in place to prevent underage gambling. Some casinos have already banned video recording on the gaming floor, so please make security aware if you see this happening or any minors in any gaming areas. Please stay tuned for more details in our upcoming investigative report. If you know someone who is underage and participates in illegal or legal gambling, reach out to the Arizona Department of Gaming at Gaming.AZ.gov. If you or someone you know may suffer from a gambling addiction, reach out to ADG’s Division of Problem Gambling at 1.800.NEXT.STEP or ProblemGambling.AZ.gov. $
Thank you to our readers for your questions and comments, we appreciate you! Write us at Editor@AZGamingGuide.com or by mail at Editor, AZ Gaming Guide, PO BOX 20636, Mesa, AZ, 85277.
06 Arizona Gaming Guide | December 2023 | azgamingguide.com
