High school students given lessons on evils of gambling

HIGH school students are being given lessons on the evils of gambling
in a bid to combat an explosion in the number of teenage punters.

Counsellors
said teens were gambling online using their parents' credit cards and
"people under 18" were playing poker machines.

Gambling
prevention experts are trying to identify school students who are in
trouble or at risk as children as young as 13 bet among themselves with
their lunch money, mobile phones and iPods, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Students
from Year 8 to Year 10 have taken part in 70 problem gambling workshops
and prevention kits have been distributed to 3300 schools and TAFEs.

In
secret research commissioned by the Government, baby-faced 18-year-olds
are being sent into gaming venues to find out how rigorously ID checks
are being carried out. Findings of the NSW Pseudo-Underage Gambling Research project are to be released later this year.

The Central Coast Problem Gambling
Service has surveyed 200 young people aged 13-24 and found 62 per cent
of under-14s gamble for money or possessions such as mobile phones and
iPods.

"At this age it's not classic problem gambling but it's the same as experimenting with drugs and alcohol," service manager Chris Davidson said yesterday.

Researchers
have found problem gambling in Australia is more prolific than illicit
intravenous drug use but shame keeps the addiction well hidden.

Anti-gambling experts said the 18-24 age group had emerged as a major problem but victims only recently began seeking help.

The
school workshops, funded by Wyong Leagues Club and held usually in
maths and science classes, involve interactive role play, show students
the pitfalls of gambling and address concepts such as the laws of
chance.

Online gambling has exacerbated the problem with
counsellors telling of one boy who spent $3000 on his father's credit
card and lost it betting on the internet.

Problem gambling
counsellor Lincoln Poole from Unifam said 18-24 year olds were
returning high scores on screening tests for those at risk.

"Twenty-year-olds are turning up and scoring as high as some who have been gambling for 15 years," Mr Poole said .

"They are mostly gambling on the pokies and on horse racing.

"But most have no idea how poker machines work - they don't know the odds."




By Bruce McDougall

The Daily Telegraph

August 31, 2009 12:01amhttp://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,26004643-2,00.html

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WHAT ARE ... ODDS ?????? HOW DO THEY APPLY TO GAMBLING ???? LOL