Last modified: Sunday, December 9, 2007 4:31 AM PST Gambling: no longer an adult hobby By JESSICA KELLER ARGUS OBSERVER ONTARIO - What are your children doing in their spare time? While typically considered an adult activity in the past, gambling is spreading to the younger age set, and the dangers of gambling are no longer just an adult concern. Andrea Lockner, Lifeways prevention coordinator for Malheur County, said research and societal factors indicate more youth and teenagers are either gambling or becoming more susceptible to developing gambling problems earlier, making youth gambling awareness more important.   Children and teenagers are introduced to gambling every day, Lockner said, through teasers on the Internet to watching television. Poker has become the equivalent of a sport through broadcasts of poker tournaments on television channels, such as ESPN, and children see that and their perceptions of gambling can change. Lockner said she has even heard children say they want to become professional poker players when they grow up. “For me, I think that was a whoa. That was surprising,” Lockner said. According to information on the Oregon Department  of Human Services Web site, more than 75 percent of Oregon teens have gambled, and about one in every 25 teens, or 4 percent have a gambling problem. According to the ODHS information, one in every 10 teens is an “at-risk” gambler, where they may develop a gambling problem. “Kids are the fastest-growing area of the population to be set up for gambling addiction,” Lifeways senior mental behavioral health therapist Nan Moss said. She said children are being “groomed” toward gambling or developing a gambling problem in many facets of their life. Card games, such as Texas Hold’em, and gambling is very socially popular right now and can become a social situation for children as well, she said. “The social acceptance of gambling amongst youth puts them at risk,” Moss said. Adeptness at using machinery and technology, such as computers and video games also creates a risk, she said.     “In the past, people were really forced to interact more directly with people, but now the youth are much more adept with interacting with machines than with people,” Moss said. From My Space to chat rooms to on-line games or video games, children are learning to interact without human contact, she said, adding that can create self-esteem issues as children or young adults find it harder to get comfortable with their peers. “It’s a difficult societal issue because of lot of their work is done on computers from a very young age,” Moss said. “They don’t play as really tiny kids in groups so much. They play on their computers.” She said children don’t go down the street to play with their friends so much anymore. If children participate in organized sports, they’re parents drop them off and pick them up at set times, and then the children are back at home on their computers, watching television, playing video games, she said. “It’s more organized,” Moss said of children’s time. “Their off-time is more organized. They’re kind of isolated in a way.” Lockner said she wants local students to become more aware of the dangers of gambling through education and participation in such programs as the gambling prevention artwork contests both Lifeways and the state sponsor. This year, Lockner said, only Ontario Middle School participated by having students submit artwork with a gambling prevention to Lifeways’ annual contest. Next year her goal is to get even more middle schools to participate. “Because it gets that discussion going in the question, if gambling is a problem,” Lockner said. Some Ontario middle and high school students also participated in a gambling awareness and prevention video for the state last year, which will be presented to Ontario middle and high school students later this year. The video and other information will also be provided to other schools if it is requested, Lockner said. She said it is important for children and teenagers to learn about the risks of gambling, especially because it is more socially acceptable and outlets are easy to find — such as on the Internet. Lockner said it is also difficult to deter youth gambling by setting age limits, “but kids have been playing cards since Go-fish.” “I take it as it’s one more thing parents need to talk to their kids about,” Lockner said about gambling. Parents need to know where there children are, and what they are doing, and teach them the importance of setting limits when gambling. “It’s just one of those concerns they need to talk to their kids about,” Lockner said. Suzie Douglas-Sap, Ontario Middle School after school program coordinator, said she is excited for the OMS students to see the gambling awareness video because it will be a good introduction for the students and it also includes some of their former classmates. Douglas-Sap said she watched the video and was surprised to learn some things about the dangers of gambling. For one, she said, she didn’t know until watching the video and listening to some of the students speak about their personal experience or friends’ experiences that youth and teens were gambling online — in some cases using their parents’ checking account numbers, credit cards or pre-paid Visas to play — or that there were Web sites actually targeting younger players.   She said she also didn’t realize seemingly harmless activities such as casual games of poker, even with a set buy-in and time limit, or placing bets could contribute to future problems with gambling. “What’s the harm in having 10 to 15 kids get together to play poker? As a parent, I know where they’re at. I know what they’re doing,” Douglas-Sap said.  “I didn’t realize those poker parties are getting out of hand in some places,” she said. Douglas-Sap said until she watched the video, she didn’t think anything about the poker parties her son occasionally played in during the last year and a half. “And I’ve had to rethink that and really keep an eye on it,” she said. “I didn’t really think to talk to him about it before. I didn’t know it was something I needed to talk about.” Douglas-Sap said, before, she thought her son, who just turned 18, was in no danger because the games were well-controlled —the buy-in was set at $5, and the games only lasted four hours. Also, before, she was satisfied her son wasn’t participating in the usual parental concerns, such as underage drinking or taking drugs. “You look at all the things a teenager is not doing, but you don’t stop to ask yourself ‘could this lead to problems down the road?’” she said. Douglas-Sap said with gambling, it is difficult to associate what is a problem or a risk and what isn’t because there are so many gray areas. But those gray areas are what parents need to pay attention to and make their children aware of because life itself has so many gray areas. “You have to help kids make good decisions while their young,” so they can do the same as adults, Douglas-Sap said. That means talking with children about gambling, teaching them to set limits and recognizing the dangers, she said.