September 06, 2024 6:33 pm
• Last Updated: September 06, 2024 6:44 pm
Left to their own (hand-held) devices, college students are gambling in greater and greater numbers.
In a National Council on Problem Gambling survey, 75% of U.S. college students said they had gambled in the past year, while 6% reported developing a serious gambling problem. That’s more than twice the rate of problem gambling in the general population.
Connecticut’s 2021 legalization of sports betting, online casino gambling and wagering on fantasy sports has helped fuel the trend locally. In 2022, 8.9% of the calls to the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling’s “helpline” came from mostly male callers under the age of 25, up from 4.7% the previous year.
Now, for the third year, the Connecticut council is launching a College Campus Gambling Prevention Initiative to raise awareness of the pitfalls associated with gambling. Ten colleges in the state, including New London’s Mitchell College, sought to participate in the program and each will receive $5,000 to address problem gambling on their campuses.
The other participants are: Western Connecticut State University in Danbury; Quinebaug Valley Community College, which has campuses in Danielson and Willimantic; Fairfield University; the University of Bridgeport; and Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.
Also, Middlesex Community College in Middletown; Goodwin University in East Hartford; the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford; and Tunxis Community College in Farmington.
In addition, Providence College in Rhode Island is participating in the program for a second time, according to Mallory Schultz, the council’s prevention manager, who helps oversee the program.
Schultz said the program calls for the colleges to incorporate certain strategies, including the promotion of problem-gambling resources such as the council’s helpline, and training for campus police, RAs and students in regard to recognizing signs of gambling-related problems. Program funding, most of which comes from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the council, covers such expenses as surveys, promotional materials and speaker fees.
“A lot of these schools have never had gambling education,” Schultz said. “Even counseling programs and addiction classes will just briefly mention gambling. Our goal is to start those conversations.”
Schultz said lottery games, particularly scratch tickets, are the most popular form of gambling among college students in the state, which in July launched online keno play and the online purchase of draw-game tickets.
“We do see a lot of sports betting and online casino playing,” she said.
Schultz said underage gambling occurs among college students, sometimes in cases in which a parent allows an underage child to use the parent’s account to gamble remotely.
In Connecticut, a gambler must be 18 to play keno and other lottery games, bingo at a casino and fantasy sports, or engage in off-track betting. A gambler must be 21 to participate in all other forms of on-site and online casino gambling and sports betting.
Despite the 2021 expansion of gaming in Connecticut, it’s safe to assume some illegal gambling is still occurring among college students, Schultz said.