There is an epidemic of addiction that has not been talked about enough in the media. Addiction is often associated with substances that give you temporary highs through consumable substances.
You may not associate the two but gambling addiction and substance abuse are closely related. As a matter of fact, only about 3% of people are profitable in gambling long-term via Bloomberg. So it is improbable you will make any money, many people don’t understand that you need to look at sports betting as an expense.
For every dollar spent on sports betting, an average of 7.7 cents is lost, so roughly 8% of your money is lost every single time you send any money to the bookies. These odds make it tough to make money, and people may become frantic and reckless when they lose money. Many try to hide their issues from loved ones or spouses and keep going letting these issues get worse and worse until they ruin families.
Gambling addiction is often more common in men than it is in women with lower IQ men usually participate in these activities. Many “pro gamblers” sell their online courses claiming they can make you 8k a month with all of their picks that have less than a 1% chance of being right. Sportsbooks also offer enticing specialty offers, on DraftKings they offer 150 dollars in bets if you deposit 5 dollars. This is how they are able to rope in young kids who don’t have full developed brains, and they fall into the trap that is gambling.
Even though the legal gambling age in Massachusetts is 21, there are still many ways around the restrictions/laws. You can go to Rhode Island and gamble if you are an 18-year-old, including electronic sports betting that requires your Massachusetts driver’s license.
There is an extreme, disturbing trend in college students and their gambling habits. I asked a close relative in who said he had seen some of his college friends fall into extreme debt to friends and family. This seems to be a trend in most pre-adults as about 8% of teens suffer from gambling addiction as compared to around 1% in developed adults. Many young adults find that the easiest way to “reclaim” their glory days is by sports betting and feeling the exhilaration of the big Friday night game once again.
However this has caused many young adults, and not just college students, to again go into extreme gambling debt with about 20% of adults (specifically men) using 25% of their paycheck on gambling and wagering activities.
The window is slowly starting to close for humanity to fix itself. Those who have an unhealthy relationship with gambling should use resources such as the gambling addict hotline to help themselves steer away from the path that destroys so many families, homes, and lives. We have to shine a light on the unfortunate truth of many poor souls in Gen-Z who are going through a rough time mentally in their lives and reach out to guide them.
