Betting on your life

-

Betting on your life

By Zachary Shea

Skyhawk View Staff Report

December 4 2023


Gambling has always been a controversial topic ever since its rise in the 1940s and 1950s, and newly legal sports gambling is no different. 


In today's world, sports betting is legal in 38 states and the District of Columbia. 


In the view of the public, sports betting normally gets a negative rep. Lia Nower has spent the last 20 years trying to prove how sports betting is a terrible idea and the effects it can have on people if they develop an addiction.


Nower, a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey wrote in her article Professor: Sports betting on campus is not worth the gamble.


"In the U.S., more than 5 million adults will develop an addiction to gambling, and 10 to 12 million will develop gambling problems, leading to consequences like unemployment, homelessness, bankruptcy, domestic violence and family disruption," Nower said.


Apart of the 10 to 12 million people who develop gambling problems, some of them are underage. Nower says that in the past year half of 18 to 20-year-olds in New Jersey have gambled. Her study found that nearly 25% of those 18 to 20-year-olds reported having symptoms of a gambling disorder. 


Nower's study showed how sports bettors are more likely to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, leading to 10% of those people attempting suicide and 13% of people engaging in nonsuicidal self-injury. 

 

Nower also added that the younger one starts to gamble and the more they gamble leads to a higher chance of the person developing a problem. 


"In one of our studies, about 90% of those under 25 gambled in-game and a significant percentage placed at least half of their bets or spent at least half of their money on in-game betting. Those things will likely raise the problem gambling rates over time," said Nower.


When asked if Nower knew anyone who has developed an addiction to sports betting she said.


"I used to be a clinician so I have known many people who have developed an addiction to sports betting, before and after it was legal," said Nower.


Nower does not think that any sports league should be allowed to show ads regarding sports betting.


For example in the National Hockey League(NHL) they have many deals with sports betting companies, in which they allow the company to advertise their product during NHL games. 


"I believe that the same laws and regulations that apply to alcohol and/or cigarette advertising should pertain to sports wagering ads," said Nower.


Nower did share some good news about whether or not she thinks sports betting will be legal in all 50 states. 


"Not in the near future.  Hawaii has been resistant to all forms of gambling, as has Utah.  Some other states have not yet legalized forms that preceded sports wagering like igaming (online casino gaming) so it will take a long time, if it happens at all, for all the states to legalize it", said Nower. 


Interviewing Professor Nower helps paint a picture of all of the negative effects a person can develop while gambling on sports. 


If anyone notices someone they know who has developed an addiction to gambling they should give them the National Problem Gambling Helpline of 1-800-GAMBLER. 


Although sports betting can get a negative view in the eye of the public, Paul Obermeier proved that people who gamble on sports can still live a normal and healthy life. 


Obermeier was born and raised in East Boston Massachusetts which is where he has lived for the past 30 years of his life. Obermeier said that he started to bet on sports seven years ago due to his love of watching sports and has done it ever since.


Although Obermeier bets every day he refers to betting as a hobby. When he doesn't bet he has had a job at Kriss Law for the last four years. 


"I also enjoy the stat crunching and seeing if I can beat the numbers Vegas sets, though it is definitely a nearly impossible thing to do," said Obermeier. 


When Obermeier was asked about whether sports betting will be seen as more of a positive than a negative as time goes on he stated the following. 


"As more and more states start to legalize it, it will become a norm in sports. You will always have people who are against it but like anything in life there will always be people on different sides of a topic and sports gambling is no different," Obermeier said. 


Obermeier said that neither he nor anyone he knows has developed an addiction due to gambling. Even though he doesn't know anyone, Obermeier said he "fell down a rabbit hole" of stories of other people trying to dig themselves out of gambling losses. In which he then referred to sports betting as a "slippery slope".


Unlike Nower, Obermeier does not know anyone who has gambled under the legal age, and specified that Massachusetts is very strict with laws about underage gambling. 


Even with Obermeier gambling for the past seven years of his life, he said the following regarding if he thought his gambling would get to the point of himself developing an addiction.


"As long as sports gambling is allowed, I don't see myself going down a path of addiction, and I keep it within my means of what I can afford," said Obermeier. 


After conducting the interview with Obermeier one can notice that even someone who gambles every day won't develop an addiction if it is done responsibly.  


Obermeier is the perfect example of someone who can gamble and not develop an addiction. Obermeier never puts gambling before anything in his life and anyone can see it with him having a good job and no signs of addiction.


Anyone can be like Obermeier if they learn to make gambling a hobby and to stop if any signs of addiction are shown.
















An example of how Obermeier places his bets
                                                    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Head Injuries are Affecting the Future of Football

-
  By Tyler Salisbury Stonehill News Staff Writer Concussions in boys' football rank highest among youth sports, leading some parents to keep their children away from the game and prompting calls for changes in the way teams approach the problem. According to a recent report, “ America’s Most Divided Sport: Polarization and Inequality in Attitudes about Youth Football,” a study written by Andrew Lindner, The rate of concussions for boys’ high school football is 9.7 per 10,000 AEs(games or practices where there is a possibility of sustaining an injury), more than triple the rate for soccer (3.14), and well over six times the rate for basketball (1.46), and baseball (1.35) A big reason children get head injuries is the lack of information parents have on head trauma. athletic trainer Evan Chandra had a lot to say about the fact that parents aren’t informed enough about the risk and negative effects of brain trauma.  Chandra currently works at East Bridgewater Jr/Sr High School, w...
Read more

Wait! Can this Teacher Relate?

-
  By Darryn Hylton Stonehill College News Staff Growing up, Ratliff had very few teachers of color. She wasn’t alone in her experiences, and although the diversity society has accepted as a whole has gotten better, the lack of diversity in educators remains a challenge. A recent study done by the Pew Research Center showed that majority of the schools in the United States education system lack diversity within their educators and people of authority. The population of students continuously increases in diversity while people of authority are remaining the same, according to the 2021 study. “ I think in terms of higher education, similar to primary and secondary education, representation matters.” said Sade Ratliff, a senior at Stonehill College. She is the student government association executive diversity chair.   According to the study, elementary and secondary public-school teachers in the United States are considerably less racially and ethnically diverse as a ...
Read more

How homicide impacts surviving family members

-
(Video of a Correctional facility in CT) By Kyla Smulski  Skyhawk View News Staff  In the late 1990s, Erin Miller's great aunt and uncle became frantic after realizing that their 10-year-old daughter Stephanie had gone missing from their home on the coast of Maine. After searching for hours with the help of neighbors and officials, every parent's worst nightmare came true when their daughter was found murdered.  Stephanie’s body was discovered in the closet of the teenage boy, next door, after his mother noticed blood on his bedroom floor, Miller said. The boy had lured Stephanie into his house after school and killed her.  “He said he wanted to know what it would be like to kill someone, knowing that was his motivation only made it more traumatic. It has been years since this happened and I can clearly still see the lasting impacts on my family,” she said.  Miller said her great aunt and uncle were never the same, suffering from depression and severe anxiety fo...
Read more