Two Plus Two Older Archives - For those who think internet poker is going to burst

I say bs. My thought has always been there is now a relatively small percentage of people who trust the internet. The internet is relatively new and as younger people who grow up with it become of age they will fuel the boom.

I know it is not the point of the article, but nonetheless is happening...

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-teen04.html

Teenage boys going all in for poker craze

September 4, 2005

BY LARRY MCSHANE Advertisement

NEW YORK -- Kevin figures about half of the male students at his suburban high school are regular poker players. It's the latest teen rite of passage: Texas Hold 'Em with the boys, a little low-budget action on the weekend.

He started playing at age 15.

By the end of his senior year, the now 17-year-old was hunting bigger games. He frequented illegal poker clubs on Long Island. He dropped $2,000 betting during a family vacation in the Caribbean. When his job managing an ice cream shop conflicted with poker nights, he quit.

As his losses inevitably swelled, Kevin started looting a $30,000 college fund set up by his parents. ''I didn't care if I won or lost,'' said Kevin, who went through $7,000 in three months. ''I just wanted to gamble.''

He wasn't alone. This summer, while school was out, a growing number of America's teens were going all in as the nation's poker craze mesmerized a group that grew larger and younger.

Experts fear the obsession is putting America's youth at its highest risk ever for compulsive betting -- and worry that assistance programs are lagging.

''I get calls from parents and kids, some as young as 14, every day,'' said counselor Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. ''This thing has exploded. I've never seen anything explode like this has in the last year.''

Spreading to middle schools

Poker, particularly the incredibly popular Texas Hold 'Em version played in the $56 million World Series of Poker, stands alongside hip-hop and video games as pillars of America's youth culture. And as schools reopen, the pool of potential underaged gamblers is spreading from the upper grades into the middle schools.

According to a study by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 15.9 percent of in-state students between the sixth and 12th grades admit to gambling-related woes or signs of addiction. Four percent report they were already stealing money from relatives to gamble.

A national survey showed a huge increase in card-playing among males ages 14 to 22, with the number of youths reporting they gambled in card games at least once a week jumping from 6.2 percent in 2003 to 11.4 percent last year -- an increase of 84 percent. The vast majority of poker players are males.

'5% will become addicted'

There are no definitive statistics on the number of teenagers battling compulsive gambling problems nationwide. But Ed Looney, who followed Wexler as head of the New Jersey council, cites the 80-15-5 rule.

''Eighty percent of the kids who gamble, there will be no impact on their lives,'' Looney said. ''Fifteen percent will have some problem. And 5 percent will become addicted.''

Many teens pick up the game from television, with its endless permutations of professional gamblers and celebrity wannabes, with its explanations of intricacies of the seven-card game.

But there's more than television at work here. Online gambling is just a mouse click away, accessible 24 hours every day, 365 days a year. A Google search of play and Texas Hold 'Em turned up more than 2 million results.

On Long Island, there are now two Gamblers Anonymous meetings devoted exclusively to teens. Kevin, who started attending after his angry parents discovered the depleted tuition fund, is a regular.

''That was a big thing for me, to realize I was not alone,'' said the teen, who will start college this fall -- and start paying his parents back the missing cash.

Teenage boys going all in for poker craze

September 4, 2005

BY LARRY MCSHANE

NEW YORK -- Kevin figures about half of the male students at his suburban high school are regular poker players. It's the latest teen rite of passage: Texas Hold 'Em with the boys, a little low-budget action on the weekend.

He started playing at age 15.

By the end of his senior year, the now 17-year-old was hunting bigger games. He frequented illegal poker clubs on Long Island. He dropped $2,000 betting during a family vacation in the Caribbean. When his job managing an ice cream shop conflicted with poker nights, he quit.

As his losses inevitably swelled, Kevin started looting a $30,000 college fund set up by his parents. ''I didn't care if I won or lost,'' said Kevin, who went through $7,000 in three months. ''I just wanted to gamble.''

He wasn't alone. This summer, while school was out, a growing number of America's teens were going all in as the nation's poker craze mesmerized a group that grew larger and younger.

Experts fear the obsession is putting America's youth at its highest risk ever for compulsive betting -- and worry that assistance programs are lagging.

''I get calls from parents and kids, some as young as 14, every day,'' said counselor Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. ''This thing has exploded. I've never seen anything explode like this has in the last year.''

Spreading to middle schools

Poker, particularly the incredibly popular Texas Hold 'Em version played in the $56 million World Series of Poker, stands alongside hip-hop and video games as pillars of America's youth culture. And as schools reopen, the pool of potential underaged gamblers is spreading from the upper grades into the middle schools.

According to a study by the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, 15.9 percent of in-state students between the sixth and 12th grades admit to gambling-related woes or signs of addiction. Four percent report they were already stealing money from relatives to gamble.

A national survey showed a huge increase in card-playing among males ages 14 to 22, with the number of youths reporting they gambled in card games at least once a week jumping from 6.2 percent in 2003 to 11.4 percent last year -- an increase of 84 percent. The vast majority of poker players are males.

'5% will become addicted'

There are no definitive statistics on the number of teenagers battling compulsive gambling problems nationwide. But Ed Looney, who followed Wexler as head of the New Jersey council, cites the 80-15-5 rule.

''Eighty percent of the kids who gamble, there will be no impact on their lives,'' Looney said. ''Fifteen percent will have some problem. And 5 percent will become addicted.''

Many teens pick up the game from television, with its endless permutations of professional gamblers and celebrity wannabes, with its explanations of intricacies of the seven-card game.

But there's more than television at work here. Online gambling is just a mouse click away, accessible 24 hours every day, 365 days a year. A Google search of play and Texas Hold 'Em turned up more than 2 million results.

On Long Island, there are now two Gamblers Anonymous meetings devoted exclusively to teens. Kevin, who started attending after his angry parents discovered the depleted tuition fund, is a regular.

''That was a big thing for me, to realize I was not alone,'' said the teen, who will start college this fall -- and start paying his parents back the missing cash.