A new generation of Americans is confronting an addiction that previous generations encountered in back rooms and casinos, but today’s youth face it on the smartphones in their pockets.
Saul Malek, 28, travels the country delivering a stark warning to students about the perils of online gambling. Last month, he stood before an auditorium of teenage boys at University School, a private institution in Cleveland, to share how a seemingly harmless $10 bet on a baseball game when he was their age transformed into a devastating addiction that left him $25,000 in debt and suicidal by age 21.
“You don’t even realize that what you’re doing is harming you as it’s happening,” Malek told the students, a message he would repeat to younger seventh and eighth graders later that day.
The students listening were not unfamiliar with his subject matter. They live in an era where smartphone applications have transformed individual plays, international political events, and even awards show outcomes into betting opportunities accessible with a few taps on a screen.
Henry Brown, a senior at University School, placed gambling alongside drugs and alcohol as primary parental concerns. “And I’d say gambling is probably the most common,” he added.
The testimony from these students reveals a troubling picture of American youth culture. Discussions about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ performance now routinely devolve into debates over betting strategies on player statistics. When a teacher showed Olympic men’s hockey during class, a student lamented aloud that he had failed to place a wager on the game.
Senior Gavin Owens described classmates who appear unable to control their gambling impulses. “They’re addicted — they’re not present when I’m around them,” he said, noting one friend who constantly keeps betting applications open on his phone during social interactions. “Their mind’s in another place — probably on the spreads.”
Comprehensive national data on teenage gambling addiction remains limited, but smaller regional studies paint a concerning picture. A recent survey from Common Sense Media, a nonprofit education and advocacy organization, found that one-third of American boys between ages 11 and 17 reported gambling within the past year. This includes online sports betting, lottery tickets, and poker games with friends.
A Massachusetts survey revealed that approximately 10 percent of children who placed bets experienced problematic gambling that disrupted their personal lives, family relationships, or academic performance.
When Malek first began sharing his cautionary tale, he targeted high school students. Increasingly, however, he finds himself booked at middle schools. Kurt Freudenberg was merely 11 years old when he began gambling, trading valuable digital items known as “skins” from video games for virtual currency.
The facts are clear. Technology has transformed gambling from an activity requiring a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City into something available twenty-four hours a day on devices that young people carry everywhere. What was once a vice limited by geography and accessibility now presents itself as entertainment, readily available and aggressively marketed.
The question facing parents, educators, and policymakers is not whether this represents a serious threat to American youth. The evidence demonstrates that it does. The question is what will be done about it.
Related: Trump Suspends Century-Old Shipping Law to Address Rising Fuel Costs
