Study: Young gamblers on the rise

[TexasStooge]

By KARIN KELLY / WFAA ABC 8

A new national survey show teens and college students are gambling at an alarming rate and counselors warn that some risk a lifelong addiction.

Some North Texas kids get the gambling itch as early as high school.

A group of high school friends in Fort Worth said they often play Texas Hold 'em with dollar bets. However, they said it is all in fun and mom said she watches nearby.

"He's pretty tight with his money and my money too," said the mom of one teen.

But with some of the teens, the gambling itch grows into a much larger problem after some get hooked on the wins and the stakes get higher.

College freshman Rob Sorokolit said he has watched friends win thousands in one night, and that type of excitement can get addicting.

"And then you want to move on to a bigger game so you start playing for $200, $300," he said. "You're doing all right and you'll move up to $500 games."

The students often play at underground places with gamblers twice their age.

One 19-year-old student, Ryan Graham, said at his young age he has already battled his poker habit after losing too much money and time.

"The way I got addicted, the first month I played poker I won a lot of money," Graham said.

He said soon school, and everything else for that matter, became second to playing a hand of poker.

However, Graham isn't alone according to the 2005 National Annenberg Risk Survey of Youth (NARSY).

The survey showed 41.6 percent, a 20 percent increase from 2004, of boys between the ages 14 to 22 are gambling monthly, and many are gambling weekly.

Police said the gambling has sent many parents to the police department with complaints.

"The parents are wanting us to police their children and get back their money that they have lost," said Officer Ed Adcock, with the vice unit of the Fort Worth Police Department.

However, officers there isn't always much they can do, so the problem continues and parents' worries grow.

"I have friends who've had to stop and it's been rough," Sorokolit said. "They've had to lock their computers away because they have lost all their money."

While many parents worry, some teens find it hard to face as a problem.

"Because nothing is ingested in the body, the assumption is one cannot be addicted to it," said Charles Vorkoper, a gambling addiction counselor. "That's totally wrong."

Sometimes winning can also fuel the denial.

"Because a lot of times what ends up happening is you'll win $700 dollars [and] then the next night you'll say I've got $700 I'm willing to lose," Sorokolit said.