About Gambling

Suggested Time
40 minutes

Objectives

• Students will understand what gambling is, and learn some of the features of adolescent gambling.
• Examine risk-taking behaviours.

Gambling is defined as the act of risking something of value on an uncertain outcome. Research indicates that people do not identify youth betting activities as "gambling." Gambling is often seen as an adult activity that occurs in age-restricted settings such as video lottery terminal (VLT) lounges and casinos.

Adolescents often use the words "betting, wagering, and daring" to describe their gambling activities. Adolescents stake their money and personal possessions on dares, wagers, and bets. They tend to favour gambling games that have an element of skill attached. Adolescents often prefer these types of gambling:

• card games
• sports betting
• raffles and 50-50 tickets/draws
• scratch tickets
• lotto
• bingo
• arcades
• coin-flipping
• horse races
• midway games
• proposition wagers

A proposition wager is a wager made on an event that occurs in daily life. This could be a bet on test results, or who will be dating whom in a specified time period. These wagers often result in the transfer of money, services, or possessions, but not always. Sometimes, the payoff is prestige and bragging rights.

Social gambling is occasional gambling as a form of entertainment. Problem gambling can take many forms, depending on the background, characteristics, and circumstances of the gambler. Signs of problem gambling include:

• spending more time or money on gambling than you intended
• trying to win back money or possessions that you lost
• feeling bad about the way you gamble or about what happens when you gamble
• telling others that you were winning money/things from betting when you really weren’t
• wanting to quit gambling
• keeping your gambling from friends or family
• skipping school to gamble
• borrowing or stealing money or selling possessions to gamble

Activity

All gambling involves taking a risk. This activity assists students to reflect on their own risk-taking experiences and tendencies.

On the chalkboard write the word RISK in large letters, surrounded by lines that radiate in all directions. Ask the class to come up with examples of risks. Risks can be taken in different areas of your life. Record examples at the ends of the radiating lines. Examples: skate boarding without a helmet, answering a question in class, dyeing your hair blue.

Help students to classify the risks by asking the question. What have you got to lose? Examples might come from several different areas: health, safety, money, approval, feelings, etc. For example, you may:

• risk losing health and safety if you go hang gliding
• risk losing money if you make a bet
• risk feeling vulnerable if you confide in a friend
• risk losing approval if you stand up for something you believe in
• Discuss a few other examples. What could be gained, and what could be lost in each case?

Write the words health and safety, money, approval, and feelings across the board, and ask students to use different colour chalk or markers to underline examples that would fit each category (or make new categories).

(Drawing the Line: A Resource for the Prevention of Problem Gambling, Volume I. Junior High Curriculum Supplement, p.11)

Debrief

• What risks did you take this week? What did you do that didn’t involve any risk at all? (Drawing the Line, p. 11)
• What risks are involved in gambling behaviour?
• What do you think some of the most common reasons for gambling would be?
• How do other people affect your decision to try gambling?
• What negative effects do you think gambling could have?
• What are some activities you could do instead of gambling?