State aiming to help student gamble-aholics.Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard For some people, March Madness March Madness may refer to:
That's because the annual NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association college basketball College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. History
History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like monitor with a and slot games and even easier access to live and Internet poker games, and state officials see trouble brewing. To help get a handle on the situation, the state is launching its first-ever problem gambling Problem gambling is an urge to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. The term is preferred to compulsive gambling among many professionals, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. initiative aimed at college campuses. The lottery-financed program is offering technical assistance and resources so that colleges can set up programs to help students who may have a gambling problem. "About one college student in 20 has a gambling problem, but it's an issue that's very much under the radar This article is about the magazine. For other uses, see Under the Radar (disambiguation). Under the Radar is an American magazine that bills itself as "The solution to music pollution." It features interviews with accompanying photo-shoots. ," Jeff Marotta, problem gambling services manager for the state human resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. agency, said in a statement announcing the campaign. "Most colleges seem to view student gambling as a harmless extracurricular activity, yet we know that for a certain percentage of student gamblers it can lead to serious problems." Problem gambling hasn't attracted the same level of campus attention as drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases Sexually transmitted diseases Infections that are acquired and transmitted by sexual contact. Although virtually any infection may be transmitted during intimate contact, the term sexually transmitted disease is restricted to conditions that are largely and bias issues, in part because information on the extent of the problem is scarce. Earlier studies found that nationally about 2 percent of the population has a gambling problem, although the number jumps to 4 percent among teenagers. But that was before the poker craze swept the country and spawned literally hundreds of online gambling Online gambling is a general term for gambling using the Internet. This article provides a brief introduction to some of the forms of online gambling, as well as discussing general issues. sites. Julie Hynes, the problem gambling prevention coordinator for Lane County, said the results of a new study will be released soon and that she won't be surprised if the numbers are a lot higher. But officials say anecdotal evidence anecdotal evidence, n information obtained from personal accounts, examples, and observations. Usually not considered scientifically valid but may indicate areas for further investigation and research. already is enough to raise concerns. It's not uncommon for students to play poker online during lectures as well as at live games in residence halls and off-campus apartments, sometimes leading to financial problems that can derail de·rail intr. & tr.v. de·railed, de·rail·ing, de·rails 1. To run or cause to run off the rails. 2. a student's education. Hynes said she's heard enough stories about gambling among University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. students to believe it's more of a problem than people might think. "I've talked with some college students over at the U of O, and they've said they've had roommates that have had problems, they've had friends who have had problems," she said Monday. But, "the people that have the problems just don't even see it as that big of an issue, even though they're losing financial aid or they're not able to pay their bills." Easy access to credit cards is helping fuel the online gambling boon among the college-age population, Marotta said. The worry is that students who run up gambling debts on their credit cards will start using tuition money to cover the bill. "The way that they're paying off their gambling debt is through financial aid dollars," he said. "Some of them are having to take semesters off to work because they can't afford to pay tuition and books and all the expenses that come along with being a college student. And I think this is happening a lot more frequently than people realize." One of the few recent studies lends some weight to that idea. A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, released last September, found that the rate of monthly gambling involving card games by youths age 14 to 22 increased by 20 percent in just the past year; more than 80 percent of the gamblers were male. "That's a phenomenal increase," said Marotta. "They're finding that poker is becoming a mainstream activity for youths between 14 and 22. They're also finding that poker players compared to other types of gamblers are more likely to gamble on the Internet, and that's concerning to us because Internet gambling is considered such a risky form of gambling." That's because computer gaming often is done behind closed doors, leaving family and friends unaware and unable to help until a problem becomes serious, Hynes said. And campuses probably aren't prepared to deal with an escalating gambling problem. Marotta acknowledged that sports gambling isn't the biggest worry, not with more than 2,000 bars and taverns offering state-sponsored video gambling and computers giving any student instant access to a world of online gambling that last year took in an estimated $11 billion in revenue. But he hopes that piggybacking Gaining access to a restricted communications channel by using the session another user already established. Piggybacking can be defeated by logging out before leaving a workstation or terminal or by initiating a protected mode, such as via a screensaver, that requires re-authentication on March Madness will bring some needed attention to the issue. The UO currently does not have a stand-alone problem gambling program, although it has invited Hynes to campus to talk about the problem and makes state-provided gambling information available. But officials are hoping that its offer to help start such programs will get more campuses thinking about the issue. "I think that college campuses haven't quite yet realized the seriousness of this problem," said Hynes. "And that's our responsibility, to increase the awareness of that." GAMBLING HELP The state offers a toll-free help line for assistance with problem gambling: Call (877) 2-STOP-NOW ( 877 278-6766) |
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