The contemporary world of high technical and technological support provides many opportunities for making business online. In this respect, gambling stays in the first position among other entertainments on the Internet. Being a sphere of solely adult concernment, the situation shifts toward rejuvenation. More and more teenagers are getting involved in the dangerous and unsteady world of gambling. It is the sphere where fortune may play a low-down trick. There are many adults addicted to gambling. In the United States, this number is constantly growing. The thing is that the situation acquires today the teenage appearance. This social problem can influence negatively the future of the American nation. It is an amoral and anxious feature of modern society. Reports of mass media about the percentage of involvement in this dark sphere of teenagers leave much to be desired. In this respect, the research provides a scope of discussion about the core problem of gambling among teenagers in the US. Moreover, the points on facts and actual cases and outcomes are highlighted. Teenagers are becoming more and more involved in poker games. This is a problem because they are learning greed is good and are becoming addicted to a popular, mainstream game.
Poker is a card game that is popular worldwide. It is a game where most people lose their capitals in just seconds. Teenagers are likely to imitate the actions of adults and their preferences in life. This is why it is supposed to be one of the major reasons as of psychological framework. Poker is socially acceptable for all layers of society and teenagers cannot but be a part of this popular pleasure of adults (Thornburgh and Torrance para. 3). The situation is deepening today due to the lack of social programs and governmental verification as well. The mainstream of this popularity states also the lack of educational initiatives to stop the increase of gambling among children.
Poker is the brand of a new reality and new entertainment (Saraceno para. 4). Today it has been transformed into the features of sport competition. Sports Poker is a spreading phenomenon. The thing is that teen players are “twice as likely as adult people to be compulsive gamblers” (Buckley 1). The nation’s love for gambling intends all layers to be involved in this trendy participation. There are no points on supposed benefits: you just play and try your fortune. In terms of teenagers, it is a matter of, for example, $5, but it is a great beginning to supposedly have a burden of millions of dollars. On the one hand, it gives grounds for psychic addiction to the game. On the other hand, teenagers in most cases cannot earn money other than using poker. This is why they begin stealing for new betting.
In this respect, the informational attack goes from the mass media. Thus, the observation of the World Series of Poker provides an assumption that it affects teenagers. It is so due to the increase of awards for the first place with each year (The Outlaw para. 2). Thus, with prizes equal to $1 billion to $7.5 billion it is vital to admit that with examples of “Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer who won the World Series of Poker in 2004 and 2005 showed that even novices in poker could win” (The Outlaw para. 3). Hence, the urge of teenagers is only being emphasized now and then. The informative function of mass media involves all categories of the population into the sphere of “allowed and prohibited.” In this respect, teenagers are the main TV addicts. Being unemployed they have nothing to do other than to watch TV in most cases after school. However, when seeing the facts of easy money they become motivated to try their fortune. This is why they begin playing poker. This simple explanation of why gambling among teenagers is widespread promotes a whole picture of the national trouble in the US.
Poker today has more points to admit that more and more young players fulfill the rows of gamblers. In reality, poker has a young face and promotes more motives for having more teenagers playing this game (Kirn and Ressner para. 1). The current conversation about the issue of gambling leads to the fact that society needs more debates about the issue of gambling among under-aged children. Moreover, the observation of the problem showed that it is solely the start of big trouble. Today World Poker Tournaments are available not only via television but also via the Internet. Because parents cannot always verify their children, the Internet gives the way for playing poker online. It is another stage of gambling among teenagers. It needs more money and more risks. This is why teenagers, first, try to show their ability to win among peers. However, the next levels of so-called perfection are presupposed with casinos and bad habits such as smoking and chewing cigars and using cocaine (Kirn and Ressner para. 3).
It is necessary to note that poker leads to addiction, notwithstanding the opposite claims as of its popularity and that it is a way for good spending of time. Poker expands more Americans of different age categories: from 10 to 80 years. It is the game of the American dream, as strange as it may seem. Most of the players are stimulated by huge amounts of money which they can win. However, there is a fair question: Why poker is exactly the most popular type of gambling? In the United States, three main kinds of gambling are favored within the population, namely: football, poker, and horse racing (Luper 3). Football is not for everyone, because of the fortune among teams and unstable situation with transfers of players from. Horse racing is a matter of good awareness of previous achievements of different jockeys. Both kinds of gambling do not give the feeling of entire pleasure, because not everyone can have an opportunity to partake in these competitions. On the other hand, poker is open and available for everyone who cares for better destiny and additional portions of adrenaline. Thus, there is a better way to get involved more I gambling among teenagers than, for example, in sports or other kinds of activities.
Looking at the drawbacks of reality, children’s psyche becomes influenced by bad intentions which fall into bad behaviors. In this respect, children are apt to think that cruelty should be taken for granted. Greed is the factor that drives teenagers toward, as they think, a better way to resist cruelty. This is why poker seems to be the panacea for contemporary teenagers from the drawbacks of life. Such outlook is, of course, considered with money-making. The result of such initiatives provides more despair than joy. In the initial stage, teenagers do not realize, and they do not want it actually, that the probability of getting off with a whole skin is so small. However, the childish enthusiasm does not provide ground for them to give up. Nevertheless, there are real factors that impress children in making their first betting. Some among them are stated below with percentage of priority:
- It’s fun 85.8
- Great way to hang out with friends 66.9
- Winning money 63.4
- It’s a cool game 57.1
- Thrill of game 52.5
- Beats boredom 49.0
- Defeating others 45.2
- Celebrities are playing it 4.1
- Nothing 3.1
- Other 1.1 (White et al 24).
As far as it can be seen, the assurance of teenagers in the significance of the game is high. Moreover, children do not stop thinking about their unique chance to make easy money even if they defeated many times before. This observation promotes the idea that poker is not just a game. It may become a part of consciousness and a part of life, as a result. This is why the mainstream game is a big danger for current and next generations. It is a disease that has no limits today. Furthermore, with the high speed of mass media spread of information within teenagers, they always have an access to be inspired and involved by the game. Celebrities, Hollywood, adults, on the whole, do not deny the gambling interest in poker. In turn, it affects teenagers to start betting right away.
Television some decades ago began the expansion of teenage minds due to such shows as Texas Hold ‘Em and owing to the activity of such organizations as The Poker Guy (Cava para. 12). The impact of poker for kids is as high, as it is for adults. One cannot but agree that the way contemporary society develops today is out of control in the sphere of teenage gambling. It is a time when a big machine of money-making touches upon the souls and minds of children In fact, it often results in some kinds of disorders in the psyche of a teenager. Such appeal is great enough because it has huge impulses in the domain of the psychic state of hurtable nature of a child.
Kids are playing games and toys since their childhood. However, in the teenage stage of their development plays acquires more serious coloring. Poker is the problem for contemporary teenagers in the United States. Poker is the mainstream in American society. It is the game of millions of people. Moreover, it is legalized. In this respect, one can make ratiocination that it is the feature of modern society which is taken for granted. Thus, this problem considers being not a problem at all. Continuing this chain of logical suppositions it is necessary to mention that there is a lack of moral education in the United States. On the other hand, one may state that gambling is a part of societal transformation. However, it was essential in previous times as well.
The thing is that the course of current authority and previous administrations of the country somehow omitted and still omit the issue of teenage gambling. It was not of great worry unless there were the reasons for anxiety. Many sources state the fatal effects of gambling on teenagers. This effect is almost the same as drug addiction. On the edge of pleasure and having fun there is a hidden trap of addiction. Feeling great interest in greed for money poker player does not stop betting. Desires are growing now and then. The result of such games can be fatal because in the world of the money debtors are disliked and hurt physically. Thus, one may suppose that harmless card play definitely may lead to addiction and serious problems among teenagers. Neighborhood plays and family appreciation only support the deepening of the problem. Thus, the real observation of the factors which outline the reasons and essence of gambling are as follows:
- Playing for money;
- Approval of parents;
- Loss of control from the side of parents;
- More betting when losing (ABC News 1).
Thus, the reports of different social organizations and committees on the issue of gambling among teenagers admit the emergence of the so-called precipice of gambling for teenagers. This approach proves the evidence of those who go through intensive treatment from gambling (Cava para. 21). Most of the kids regret because of they started this mainstream entertainment so available and so popular among boys and adults. Is not it a model for the early imitation of adult habits and skills? It is so. However, more and more teenagers are going through the risk of this game in poker rooms somewhere in the subways or basements. Others are addicted to this game online. The thing is that this flow has no stop, because with new emotional states and new experiences, especially when losing or winning huge sums of money, poker players do not feel the reality. It is a state of affection or euphoria which a gambler experiences each time he bets. Unfortunately, almost in all cases, the bad end shows the uselessness of the beginning in the past: “Teens and young adults experimenting with the intensity of new emotions, physical experiences, and sensations, as well as developmentally appropriate impulses towards risk-taking, will find addiction to be an extremely resonant theme” (Gupta 5). Hence, the reliability of the research is extremely vital for the contemporary American nation.
To conclude, the findings in the research showed the significance of the problem of gambling among teenagers. Its approach is that playing poker leads to addiction. In turn, it gives the way for the “bucket” of negative effects. These are psychic disorders, stealing, playing truant, and degradation at large. Most teenagers are even appreciated by their parents in playing poker. Such a beginning may simply throw a child into the pit of endless betting. The personal life of a teenager may appear at stake once unless this sequence of gambling events ends. The perspective of a gambler is in a better way may be supposed with intensive treatment in rehabilitation centers. Hence, this research is applicable to show the real face of poker and gambling at present. On the other hand, it is the way to shake the attention of officials, so that to provide aggressive actions for some restrictions in gambling as of the age category, first of all. One more initiative should presuppose the alternative of the game at schools. Such projection of teenage concernment will provide a panacea for the country.
Works cited
Abc News“Poker’s Popularity Means More Teen Gambling Addicts” 2005. Web.
Buckley, J.Taylor. “Nation raising ‘a generation of gamblers.” USA Today, 1995. Web.
Cava, Marco R. della. “Poker at an early age: Not just another teen fad.” USA Today, 2004. Web.
Gupta, Rina. “New prepaid credit cards remove barriers to youth online spending.” International Center for Youth Gambling 9(1), 2009. Web.
Jon, Saraceno “Popularity of poker on television come with certain amount of risk.” USA Today, 2004.
Kirn, Walter, and Jeffrey Ressner “Poker’s New Face.” Time 164.4 (2004): 30-31.
Luper, Eric. Big Slick. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Web.
White, Monica A., Mun, Phil. Kauffman, Nadine, Whelan, Christina and Regan, Mathew. “Teen Gambling in OIntario: Behaviours and Perceptions Among 15 to 17 Year-olds.” Responsible Gambling Counsil. 2007. Web.
The Outlaw. “How Has the Poker Gambling Addiction Affected Teenagers and Adults in the U.S.” Associated Content, 2006. Web.
Thournburgh, Nathan and Anne Berryman “Parents for Poker.” Time 168.14 (2006): 59-60.