STATEWIDE – A NEW REPORT released on Thursday has found that over a third of teenage boys have admitted to gambling in the past year, prompting state Sen. Andrew Gounardes to advocate for new legislation aimed at protecting minors from the gambling industry.
Common Sense Media’s new report, “ Betting on Boys: Understanding Gambling Among Adolescent Boys,” finds teen boys are largely exposed to gambling through sports betting and video games “in loot boxes, skin cases, and other reward systems that blur the line between playing and paying.” More than a third of the boys surveyed, ages 11-17, admitted to gambling in the past year, with that number rising to nearly half of the 17-year-olds. Additionally, 60% reported seeing ads for gambling on YouTube and social media.
Gounardes’ Sports Wagering and Minors Act ( S.7908), according to the senator, is designed to prevent illegal underage gambling on sports-betting websites and apps by requiring operators to conduct age assurance for account holders and to allow parents to register their personal data so an underage user cannot borrow it to create an account.
“Sports betting companies are playing roulette with kids’ health and safety. It’s the newest version of an old con: corporations take advantage of our society’s most vulnerable—in this case, children—then turn a blind eye to the consequences. This new report makes clear that this problem is widespread and demands urgent action,” Gounardes wrote in a press statement.
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