The younger a person starts gambling the greater the risk

Gambling Addiction--The younger a person starts gambling the greater the risk of becoming addicted.
Lake Worth, FL

Why are we not teaching about gambling addiction in high school and colleges and the pros?

The National Gambling Study Commission said that there are "5 million compulsive gamblers and 15 million at risk in the U.S" Forty-eight percent of the people who gamble bet on sports.

Arnie Wexler CCGC runs a help line for gambling addicts

888 LAST-BET and 1/3 of all the calls came from young people between the ages of 15 and 30.

If you read the Sports Illustrated 3 part Story, written by Tim Layden in April of 1995 about gambling on the college campus, (and that was 17 years ago) you now know what every youth in high school and on every college campus knows; gambling is running rampid .And playing poker is king today with a lot youth. And many are getting addicted. Odds and point spreads have become a normal topic of conversation amongst these students. Gambling is as available as a can of beer or a pack of cigarettes and the student bookmakers get the lines they use straight out of their local newspapers.

At a press conference in Virginia 1996. Part of the panel was Arnie Wexler a recovering compulsive gambler ( last bet 4/10/680 ) and Michael Franzese, who served 7 1/2 years in federal prison for racketeering, said games on all levels are fixed by the mob, including high schools.

``You have no idea how easy it is to influence these kids to shave points,'' said the New York native, who was a captain in the notorious Colombo family.

``I talked to the NBA rookies earlier this season . . . and it's amazing how many confided to me that they have gambling habits. I'm not going to mention their names, but if I did, you would know them.

``I personally got involved in compromising games with players, and it all came through their gambling habits.''

He recalls taking over a New York City auto dealership when the dealer went into gambling debt. The dealer was providing cars to professional and college athletes and helping them to place bets, all at Franzese's urging.

Some of those players went deep into debt and Franzese forced them to fix games.

``In a tight game, we would tell them, `Don't hit the ball in the bottom of the ninth,' or, `Don't catch a pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter,' '' said Franzese, who was involved in the Boston College game-fixing ring of the 1970s.

``And they did it. They had no choice.

``We were able to fix (horse) races. Not the big ones, like the Kentucky Derby. But some races are fixed.''

And Arnie Wexler said

``You think high school games aren't fixed? A New York City kid confided to me he had shaved points. The day he was being scouted by some Division I scouts, he shaved points. He ended up at a Division III school.

Over the years i have gotten many calls from high school and College Athletes for advice on how to break their gambling habits. One athlete with an $800,000 salary was in debt to a casino. Wexler set up a payment schedule and is trying to ween the athlete from his addiction. Not every gambler you try to help ends up in recovery i have been trying to help X N.F.L.quarterback Art Schlichter from 1982 and even testified for him in Las Vegas in 1994.

In 1982 I was involved with trying to help a compulsive gambler who was an ex college star athlete. He owed $350,000 in gambling debts. It all started five years before when he played a football ticket for $5. No doubt the person providing the football ticket got the lines from their local newspaper.

There are ads in newspapers for 800 and 900 numbers that sell information to gamblers. Some of these ads read : "Get the game of the month free", "We pick 75% winners", "Last week we went 11 for 12", and " Get our lock of the week".

I still can't believe that newspapers carry ads from these so called handicappers, who are really scandicappers. It's also interesting to note how often the information is incorrect.

I remember going to speak at Northwestern University a few years ago. That day I read in USA Today that Danny Sheridan wrote: "Northwestern was a million to one to win the Big 10". Well, they did win the Big 10 and went to the Rose bowl. I also remember when the Dallas Morning News had a gorilla in the Dallas Zoo make football picks for them. The gorillas' picks were doing better than the sports writers.

Those publishing the point spread should include a help number for problem gamblers.

If you're going to list a betting line, list a help linelike 888 LAST BET

The NCAA understands this issue as a few years back they discussed taking away press credentials at the Final Four, from newspapers that carry the lines.

One NCAA study a few years ago reported: "There is a disturbing trend of gambling among athletes in college" You can't think that these people will get into the pros and then just stop gambling?

Recently someone told me that they heard a commentator on a national college TV football game say: "They covered the spread."

Years ago I was on a TV show with Howard Cossell (ABC Sports Beat). The topic was: Does the media encourage the public to gamble? Bobby Knight, Indiana basketball coach, said: "A newspaper who published point spreads should also publish names and addresses of services that render to prostitutes. They practically have the same legality in every one of our states, and I can't see why one is any better than the other." On the same show former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn said: "Anything that encourages gambling on team sports bothers me. We all look hypocritical but than why are we putting up the odds unless we are trying to encourage it." David Stern, NBA commissioner said: "We don't want the weeks' grocery money to be bet on the outcome of a particular sporting event."

Its time for high schools colleges and professional sports to outline and execute a real program to help players who might have a gambling problem or gambling addiction problem. Yet college and professional sports still do not want to deal with this. They do not want the media and public to think there is a problem.

If high schools colleges and professional leagues wanted to help the players, they would run real programs that seriously address the issue of gambling and compulsive gambling. Education and early detection can make a difference between life and death for some people who have or will end up with a gambling addiction.

ARNIE WEXLER CCGC

LAST BET 4/10/68

LAKE WORTH FLORIDA