Internet Gambling Stays Low Among Youth Ages 14 to 22

A study conducted by the National Annenberg Survey of Youth has found that card playing for money on the Internet has remained at the same low level among both high school and college-age males.

"The card playing fad that we saw earlier in the decade appears to have lost its steam among young people ages 14 to 22," said Dan Romer, director of the Annenberg Adolescent Risk Communication Institute that conducts the annual survey. In addition, the strong drop in weekly use of Internet sites following passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 appears to remain in place.

Despite the leveling off of card playing, access to Internet gambling sites remains open to those youth who are able to bypass the law by using third-party payment systems.  Projected on a national basis, more than 300,000 youth in the study age range (14 to 22) gamble for money at least once a week on the Internet, and over 700,000 do so at least once a month.

"The continued use of online gambling sites by many young people indicates that they are still risking their financial futures on poker," added Romer. "This calls for continued efforts to educate young people about the hazards of Internet gambling.

One Internet gambling analyst questioned the study and how results were applied: "This study focuses on 14-to-22 yr. old Americans. It's odd, because it includes the "legal population" of gamers (18 to 22) with underaged (14 through 17). Why doesn't it (at least here) split out the "youth" from "young adult" population?"

This same individual acknowledged the need for such research, however, in an effort to improve vulnerabilities that pre-exist within the Internet gambling sector.

"The i-gaming industry has to take these studies seriously and strive for social responsibility. At the same time, they can point out that by not regulating the industry, and preventing US banks and credit card firms from doing business with the industry, the US government is denying safeguards already in use regarding age & identity verification, ironically making the pool of underaged Internet gamblers potentially larger.

Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher