A New Age for Gambling Addiction
The horror stories of gambling are common knowledge. Throughout the various tales known as urban legends, exist numerous accounts of those who have fallen to the ill nature of gambling; the man who gambled his life savings away and then committed suicide, the woman who was hit by a truck after she won the lottery, and so on. To counteract these horrors exist the tales regarding others unbelievable luck, or those who win everything they could possibly ever want and need through gambling. These tales are common knowledge, yet despite knowing the unbelievable bad luck of most, many still continue to hope and bet on the fact that one day good luck will come, and one will win big through gambling. This hope is, despite knowing the chances one has to actually win and often times, despite the money one has available to actually lose, that eventually one will win. Typically this false hope has only been concern for psychology when it becomes a problem in one’s life or becomes pathological. However of growing concern now are the addiction of gambling and the involvement of teens and college students in this addiction. So why, knowing that the odds are slim to none, is gambling becoming a problem for future adult generations? Throughout this paper I will discuss two similar articles discussing gambling addiction and the younger generations of those who are beginning to develop such addictions. Research has found that pathological gambling (gambling addiction/gambling that interferes with one’s life and goals) rates are the highest among college students (Cronce, Jessica M., Larimer, Mary E., Lostutter, Ty W. & Neighbors, Clayton, 1991). Gambling of this nature is not always done in a casino, but more often includes betting on sporting events and/or illegal poker games existing in or near a student’s community. Cronce et al. (1991) found that the motives for such high prevalence rates vary. Historically research has not focused on motives for college
References: Chavira/Washington, Ricardo. (1991, February 25). The rise of teenage gambling. Time. Retrieved September 20, 2008, From http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972413,00.html. Cronce, Jessica M., Larimer, Mary E., Lostutter, Ty W. & Neighbors, Clayton. (1991). Exploring college student gambling motivation. Journal of Gambling Studies, 18(4), 361-370.