Teens and gambling, Part I: gambling’s history and appeal

Gambling on this side of the Atlantic has had its share of supporters and detractors dating to the earliest colonial days

By: Lorraine Seabrook
   Recent news reports have highlighted a growing problem among teens and young college students: gambling.
   From wildly popular shows such as "Celebrity Poker" and the "World Series of Poker" to more than 2000 Internet gambling sites to the local game nights being held in homes and college dorm rooms across the country, there is no denying that gambling is attracting young people in record numbers. What’s old is new again.
   According to historical and archeological records, gambling has existed for thousands of years across many civilizations, including those of ancient China, India, Egypt and Rome. A set of pre-1500 B.C. ivory dice was salvaged from Thebes. Card games are generally traced back to the practice of shuffling papers in 10th-century China. By the 1500s, the Italian and Spanish added royal ranks to the cards, and when the French added a queen, they created the prototype for today’s 52-card deck.
   With gambling comes problems. Consider that England’s King Henry VIII outlawed gambling when he learned that his soldiers were more interested in high stakes than on the refining of their soldiering skills.
   Roger Dunstan, in his fascinating California Research Bureau report on the history of gambling in California, notes that gambling on this side of the Atlantic has had its share of supporters and detractors dating to the earliest colonial days. Long Island, N.Y., for example, was home to the first racetrack in North America in 1665. All 13 original colonies held lotteries to raise money, and lottery funds helped establish the country’s earliest universities, including Princeton.
   And gambling among pioneers was incredibly popular — perhaps a reflection of their adventurous spirit.
   By the early 1800s, lavish casinos were immensely popular, as were lotteries. In 1823, Congress passed a bill authorizing a private lottery, with proceeds earmarked for the beautification of Washington, D.C. When the lottery’s organizers absconded with the proceeds (and the winner was never paid), professional gamblers were placed under close scrutiny. While gamblers were finding it harder to ply their trade in the east, this was not the case across the country.
   When the California gold rush reached a feverish pitch in the mid-1800s, San Francisco became the country’s gambling capital. In fact, notes Mr. Dunstan, "The market for gambling space was so strong that a mere canvas tent, 15 by 25 feet, cost $40,000 annually, payable in advance with gold dust."
   While gambling fell in and out of favor, both legally and morally, throughout the rest of the 1800s and into the early 1900s, the Great Depression sparked a resurgence in legalized gambling. With it came a crackdown on illegal gambling and the mob bosses who ran the show. Nowhere was this crackdown more apparent than in New York City. As a result, mobster Bugsy Siegel moved his operation out west. In 1947, he secured a gaming license and opened the Flamingo in Las Vegas, thus establishing this town as the premier gambling spot in the nation.
   By 1949, the biggest game in Las Vegas was poker. Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Club, arranged a very public battle between famous gamblers Nick "the Greek" Dandolos and Johnny Moss, Binion’s childhood friend. After five months and thousands of hands later, Moss won several million dollars in prize money and firmly established his reputation as the best poker player.
   Twenty-one years later, Binion recreated the Las Vegas event, dubbing it the "World Series of Poker." Moss won again, and over the next 12 years, the annual tournament drew more than 50 entries. By the mid-1990s, entries continued to climb. The tournament enticed participants with prize money nearing $8 million.
   Nothing about this trend is surprising so far until you fast-forward a decade and consider these statistics posted on the official Web site for the World Series of Poker: In 2003, 839 gamblers participated in the $10,000 buy-in, No-Limit Texas Hold’em Championship. In 2004, 2,576 poker fanatics vied for more than $49 million in prize money. And it doesn’t stop there. When the 36th Annual World Series of Poker begins June 2 in Las Vegas, where it will run through July 15 and be broadcast around the planet, an estimated 5,000 players will participate.
   To understand gambling’s place in history is to recognize that the thrill of the game and the potential for quick earnings is quite alluring, particularly for impressionable and impetuous youth.
   According to findings from The Annenberg National Risk Survey of Youth, 2003, slightly more than half of young people ages 14 to 22 reports that they gamble in any given month, and nearly one in six gamble in an average week.
   Private forms of gambling such as card games and sports betting dominate the gambling experiences of those under age 18. Those between 18 and 22 participate in public gambling, such as state lotteries and slot machines, and casinos for those 21 and older.
   Internet gambling remains at the same level across age groups and the researchers note that this may reflect its ease of access.
   Of those who gamble weekly in both private and public venues, 88 percent reports one or more gambling-related problems. The survey, entitled "On the Path to Problem Gambling: National Survey Shows Casinos, Slots and Lotteries Attract Youth Into Potentially Addictive Habit," concludes that there is "a need to target gambling as a risk behavior in prevention programs directed to young people and their families."
Next week’s Health Matters will continue to examine the hold gambling has on today’s youth and provide an easy self-test to help detect if a gambling problem exists.