He lost $149K in a day; panicked moms see gambling hook young men

Over the class of a dozen years the gambler had progressed from video games simulating betting to online roulette and blackjack to a particularly volatile form of stock trading called options trading The Johns Hopkins University graduate seemed not to grasp the destructive nature of his habit Like hundreds of thousands of other Marylanders as casino and online gambling boomed he felt almost imperceptibly pulled into betting like a rip current carrying him out to sea He was when he made his first bet Seeking a gambler s high he made the worst but perhaps majority of fortuitous bet of his life paying from his Robin Hood account in for a disastrously timed option to invest in a fund called SPY tied to the short-term fortunes of the S P The region tanked and he lost which he could afford because of a family inheritance But the experience rattled him enough that he began seriously questioning his compulsion I lost several years of salary for most of people in one pact It s what got me to stop mentioned the gambler who like other bettors interviewed for this article spoke on condition of anonymity because of stigma attached to the practice Now he helps run a aid group for recovering gamblers and under that has expanded so fast that organizers are launching a second one Business for such groups is booming As online sportsbooks line up glitzy promotions for a new NFL season state experts are sounding alarms about men in their s and s and in certain cases still in high school who grew up loving sports and their phones and struggle to resist their mobile sports betting impulses new Image src 'https capi connatix com tr si token c f -b b- - - a c f cid d daa - ac- ee -a - c f ' cnx cmd push function cnx playerId c f -b b- - - a c f mediaId ae - acc- c -b -d ee render ff f a a An underlying shame The Baltimore Sun interviewed four male gamblers three of them in encouragement groups two counselors and two mothers of sports bettors The gamblers spoke of sleepless nights betting more than they can afford multiple relapses persistent guilt about the heavy shame of keeping it all secret and yet still clinging to the false hope that they could outsmart casinos and sports-betting apps built to ensure they never do I d be living in an apartment in College Park with three friends and staying up late with the door closed and huddled over my laptop screen announced a -year-old former University of Maryland participant who calls himself a recovering gambler He declared he would search for any sports he could find to bet on late at night even international table tennis which he knew little about I had this insatiable desire to win funds back that I lost I d be throwing things against the wall when things did not go how I needed he revealed The Sun informed in February that staff members of the - -GAMBLER helpline were noticing a disturbing trend of compulsive gambling among to -year-old men The Sun s reporting was cited in an April lawsuit filed by Baltimore against DraftKings and FanDuel that accused the leading sports betting sites of exploiting the vulnerabilities of people likely to have gambling disorders through the lure of lucrative bonuses and other means The suit is pending Counselors say a growing wave of frantic Maryland mothers is now seeking help terrified as their kids spiral into credit card debt lured by a vast array of sports bets not just on wins and losses but on partial scores participant stats and even the largest part obscure match moments they can make I have tremendous anxiety for what s coming for the teenagers of at present noted the Maryland-based mother of a challenge gambler who helps lead a group of parents for Gam-Anon whose self-stated purpose is to provide assistance and comfort to those affected by someone else s gambling predicament With preponderance people in the family fathers included there is an underlying shame declared the mom who petitioned not to be named because the group maintains strict privacy It s perhaps one reason that so a great number of especially the young gamblers are enabled for so long She reported she tells newcomers Welcome to a group of people you never desired to hang out with Another mom in the Maryland group commented her son is now and still paying off gambling debt from a dozen years ago He came to us a multitude of various times asking for money It s frightening to watch your child go through this You think as a parent you re going to fix it she commented But the addiction is the same kind of addiction you have when you re addicted to a drug Gambling on credit with money they don t have Will Hinman a peer recovery specialist with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Issue Gambling announced mothers regularly call And I mean they re just pulling their hair out They don t know what to do he noted I literally got a call just a couple of hours ago from a mom sitting there with her -year-old son Sometimes the person they are calling about acknowledges they have a complication Other times they don t and on chosen occasions are even annoyed with their parents for calling even when living off their parents Hinman noted He stated the organization regularly hears from high schools asking for advice because we are hearing the same common theme from teachers that their students spend a lot of time on their phones and they suspect chosen of them may be gambling Online sports betting is the only form of gambling in which Maryland permits credit cards Players not only rack up debt paying for wagers but can face extra fees plus interest because particular credit card companies treat gambling charges as cash advances Other credit card issuers consider gambling charges unacceptable and won t process them In August DraftKings the giant online sportsbook and fantasy site began prohibiting credit card deposits for sports bets saying the move would help bettors avoid cash advance fees and higher interest rates The action came after the Boston-based company was fined by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in July for accepting particular credit card funds despite that state s prohibition SAN ANSELMO CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY In this photo illustration the DraftKings logo is displayed on a phone screen on February in San Anselmo California Fantasy sports and betting company DraftKings will overview fourth-quarter earnings in the present day Photo Illustration by Justin Sullivan Getty Images Last year the Maryland General Assembly declined to approve act banning credit card use on mobile sportsbooks and raising the minimum age from to to play daily fantasy contests It s just easier to pile up debt or money you don t indeed have mentioned Del Julie Palakovich Carr a Montgomery County Democrat who was the chief sponsor She mentioned other states already prohibit such credit card use Palakovich Carr advised The Sun she may reintroduce the bill when the legislative session begins in January Her earlier proposals had raised red flags in the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency at least partly because they would cut into the revenue the state derives from sharing sportsbook profits according to a Feb agency memorandum obtained by The Sun State taxes on companies sports betting revenue increased in July from to Sports wagering contributed million in the fiscal year ending June to the state which faced a billion budget deficit during the last legislative session that was resolved with a variety of spending cuts and tax hikes Contacted by The Sun in late August the gaming control agency didn t take a position on whether it might help barring credit card sports wagering or raising the fantasy age The DraftKings move is an indication that the gaming industry takes these issues seriously which we appreciate and we re open to productive conversations on these topics an agency spokesperson announced The General Assembly did pass provision effective July adding instruction to population school curricula on the relationship between gambling and youth suicide Sports betting boom The state licenses mobile sportsbooks and retail sportsbook locations In a state-sponsored investigation concluded that of adults in Maryland were pathological or trouble gamblers and another were considered at exposure That was before online sports betting began in the state in November so the current prevalence is not known Maintaining the balance of generating revenue and promoting the importance of responsible gambling is unfailingly a priority the gaming control agency described The Sun We collaborate closely with the Maryland Center of Excellence on Issue Gambling including our work together on the fresh production of videos intended to raise awareness among vulnerable populations The state has been considering broadly expanding gambling options by allowing traditional casino games such as blackjack poker slots and roulette to be played online Internet gaming is particularly risky for out-of-control players because the games can move so rapidly Related Articles Tesla s stock is rising in premarket trading as Musk buys more than M shares worth about B The Fed faces economic uncertainty and political pressure as it decides whether to cut rates How to plan and budget for a mini-retirement Corning to triple Apple glass maximum Ticker Feds sue Uber allege discrimination EPA seeks end to several emissions reports The General Assembly and then Maryland voters would need to approve iGaming which is predicted to deliver the state several hundred million dollars a year in revenue once it ramps up Sports betting is deceptively hard In a large number of methods such wagering is akin to a -point conversion attempt in the NFL The ball seems tantalizingly close to the goal line but teams convert fewer times than not There have been particular big Maryland wins For example a bettor at Live Casino Hotel Maryland collected in on a wager when his three huge underdog NBA teams with losing records pulled upsets two in overtime on the same night But member performance is unpredictable and sportsbooks possess a built-in advantage a commission of sorts known as the vigorish or juice The vig built into the odds provides the sportsbook a profit margin even if the money comes in equally from bettors on both sides of a wager The wide array of available wagers includes proposition bets or props that are placed on occurrences such as predicting a competitor s statistics before or during the contest other than the final number Countless sportsbooks offer bets on what color Gatorade will shower the winning Super Bowl coach With the NFL season opening counselors expect an upsurge in gambling NFL games particularly postseason contests such as the Super Bowl and the March Madness basketball tournaments attract more bets than any other sports events in the United States The heightened interest in sports betting among college students has put Maryland campuses on the defensive The University of Maryland for example sends messages to candidate athletes not only warning against point shaving and impermissible gambling which includes fantasy leagues but also cautioning against disseminating insider information about strategies or player injuries that could be useful to gamblers according to documents obtained under Inhabitants Information Act requests At the University of Maryland Baltimore County athletes were reminded before this year s March Madness tournament to steer clear of any bracket sheets in which an entry fee is required and money or any item of tangible value may be won An escape Compulsive gambling or its precursor can begin innocently It all started very virtual for me in a video event revealed the Johns Hopkins graduate who estimates he has lost about gambling including the on a failed stock option His first gambling experience was playing online dice roulette blackjack and other games using video championship currency that he bought with real money On a current afternoon he sat at a table in a Baltimore caf reviewing dozens of saved screenshots on his phone showing a stunning history of video encounter purchases The history shows that on one February day he spent to buy orbs a form of currency in a Japanese fantasy role-playing match called Fire Emblem He then compulsively spent another later that day on more orbs then another and another and another until his eighth click brought the tab to As he reviewed his purchases he seemed astonished at his own recklessness as if he were watching somebody else s history I just kept going he stated as a screenshot exhibited yet another buy The losses from the video competition which relies on chance in a way that resembles gambling foreshadowed future trouble I wasn t sleeping when I would be gambling he revealed My relationship with my parents was absolutely terrible I had stolen money from my parents a bunch They had no trust in me at all He says he gambled to divert himself from robustness issues or sadness or to try to feel good or at least numb His older brother died of brain cancer in leaving him money he did not say how much that he admits he used for gambling It was an escape to cope with demanding feelings he explained I think it took me a multitude of years to realize how unsafe it was Have a news tip Contact Jeff Barker at jebarker baltsun com