In Minnesota, once you turn 18 years old, you can legally gamble at casinos, so many teenagers look forward to their 18th birthday. A lot of teenagers also do sports gambling, which can be done on a phone,  making it more accessible. I believe teen gambling is okay, and I don’t think it is too big of a problem. If teens want to gamble, they should limit themselves to only going to the casino a couple of times a month at the most, which could even be seen as too much. 

My first point as to why I think that teen gambling isn’t a bad problem is it can be a fun thing to do if you do it responsibly. At many casinos, there are tables where the bets can be as low as $5, which doesn’t hurt you too bad to lose and can make the experience more about the fun than the money. Most people I know who go to the casino tend to set limits on themselves so that they don’t spend more than their limit and can have fun without worrying about the money. I believe that all parents who are allowing their kids to go to the casino should set these limits on their kids to help them not lose too much money and have it become a problem. 

I also believe that when teenagers go to the casino, it can help them learn how to correctly use their money and build habits of not overspending so that when they are adults, they don’t develop a gambling addiction. For me, it has caused me to pay attention to my spending, and I have learned how to control my gambling. I leave when I run out of the limit I set on myself or I feel like I have been there too long. One issue is sports gambling because it can be done from your phone, and you can place bets at any time of the day, which makes kids use it more often. 

Many teenagers who can go to the casino still don’t go that often because they don’t want to spend too much money and value the money that they have. Most kids I know only go to the casino on a special occasion and no more than once a month. I know that there are exceptions to this because there are kids that go all the time, but I would say the majority are not there too often. This brings me back to the sports gambling thing, though, because you can do it from your phone, so I know many teenage kids that always have bets placed because you can do it at any time and anywhere, and I think it’s too easy to access. 

My last point is that teens don’t bet serious money. Everybody around my age that goes to the casino is doing $5-$10 bets and only shows up to the casino with about $50. This makes it so the most you lose is $50, and the kids I know are there for fun, so they bet small money so they can stay there for as long as they can. I personally have never been to a table that had more than $20 bets, and I don’t know anyone who has gone over $20 either. The only reason teens ever really go higher than $10 is that those tables can fill up fast, and they want to get a spot at a table. 

Overall, I think that it is okay for teens to gamble if they are of age and do it responsibly, making sure they set limits and do not exceed those limits on how often they gamble. Avoid sports betting because that’s where I see real problems with kids my age. If you avoid sports gambling and occasionally go to the casino with small bets, it is a fun thing to do with your friends.

On May 14, 2018, the gambling landscape was altered when the Supreme Court case, Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, determined that the law that banned sports betting was unconstitutional. This opened up a whole new market for millions of Americans, especially young adults and teenagers. With the press of a button, they can now bet on sports games, and as technology advances, blackjack and other casino games are offered online. The industry in 2022 was worth over 235 billion dollars and is continuing to grow and grow its influence on teens.

Every time someone turns on a sporting event these days, it is hard to stay away from sports betting ads. They are everywhere. On commercials, they sponsor in-game events and they even have logos on the playing surface. People are so exposed to them that they don’t even blink an eye. They are there for someone to get hooked and eventually to continually lose money and then put more money in. It seems these companies are trying to make it so that betting just becomes part of the game. Many teenagers who are easily swayed and want to have fun see these and get attached. While they think they are getting attached to just watching sports and betting a few bucks, I think it is much deeper under the surface. It grows into an addiction to gambling which leads to playing online games and taking too many trips to the casino. I don’t totally disagree with gambling. It’s fun entertainment to an extent, but I think this generation of gambling and social media has crossed the line.

Teens are known to get more addicted to things they are presented with. Social media is a great example. Companies abuse the ability to make themselves attractive to get teenagers addicted. Social media does it in a way that you will feel left out without it and gambling does it with the thought of being able to make loads of money. I watched a documentary called the Social Dilemma that went over ways that got people dragged back into social media even if they tried taking a break. They would do it through notifications tended to the user. Sports gambling apps do the same thing by promoting lines and discounts they believe the user will buy back into. These companies are trying to get teens attached and they understand they are vulnerable to addiction. It’s the idea that they know they can get teens addicted is what troubles me. It’s very accessible and is on everyone’s phone so there’s nothing between them and putting in a bet after getting a good deal that is meant to lure them in. There’s a problem because when teens and young adults are lured, most of the time they can’t identify when they have gone too far or have a problem. There’s a fine line between putting a bet in once in a while during a big game or putting them in every night for random games that don’t mean anything.

These online sports betting apps and casinos don’t do a great job checking age and identity so people younger than 18 can get dragged into addiction too. I have heard teenagers getting away with sneaking into casinos. Along with sports betting apps, I know kids as young as 14 putting in parlays every night. That’s a problem. Teenagers just don’t have the control to withhold themselves from this form of entertainment. It goes down to the anatomy, teenagers get hooked more easily. It’s too attractive because sometimes, once in a while, one of their friends makes a sum of money.

Sports gambling and gambling in general need more regulations before they get out of control. They should regulate it so they can’t buy any ads to promote to large audiences, especially to young people because that is how people get initially hooked. The goal of this is to keep as many people out of it as possible. They should create and invest in better technology and ways to make sure that the person’s age is legal. These efforts would help lower the amount of teen gambling and try to limit the amount affected by it.