Students Report Fraud Meet BC’s Resident Gambling Expert

Gambling

and increasingly addictive, which poses a large risk for younger fans of high school and college sports throughout the United States.

“There’s numerous articles about what happens with addiction, especially addiction among young males,” McGowan said. “So that issue I’m very concerned about and whether public policymakers are going to take that into consideration when they legalize sports gambling.”

But McGowan is not a gambling prohibitionist.

He believes humans have an innate desire for risk—the adrenaline from pulling the lever on a slot machine makes a gambler’s heart pound.

“Lots of people can enjoy gambling with no problems,” McGowan said. “Lots of people can drink with no problem. Public policymakers have to be concerned about how they’re going to deal with the addiction problem with any product that can cause addiction.”

So to reduce the chances of people forming gambling addictions, McGowan said those promoting gambling should advertise the risk of addiction more openly. McGowan added that the state should also inform the public of gambling’s risks, especially around occasions when sports gambling spikes, like the Super Bowl.