Gambling seems to have weaseled its way into teens’ lives. 

While gambling is illegal in the state of Texas and violates the Richardson ISD Code of Conduct, some teens have found ways to play dice and poker games and use sports betting apps. Traditional sports betting apps are prohibited, but there are various loopholes and grey areas that make enforcing this aspect of the law extremely difficult. 

Teens have somehow gotten a hold of these apps and other online platforms to place bets, and while many don’t think it’s as severe as playing at a casino, it’s still a dangerous gateway into a gambling addiction. 

I’ve personally known of students using these apps to place bets on sports games such as the Super Bowl. While they usually only bet small amounts, the temptation to make bigger bets is present and the ability to fall into that temptation is right at their fingertips. This can easily lead to a bad path towards addiction if there are no protections around it. 

Teenagers are especially vulnerable to the risk of addiction because they don’t have fully developed frontal lobes and lack impulse control. If teens get addicted to this behavior, their brains develop and form around the addiction, which makes it harder to recover from it later in their lives. 

Considering the danger of this activity, I think there should be more safeguards for teenagers around it. 

One way to protect teenagers from risking an addiction to this is not a complete ban on gambling but legalizing it so that the state can create more boundaries and regulations around it. 

Texas cannot regulate an activity that is completely banned, and the complete ban is extremely hard to enforce. Legalizing gambling can make it easier for the state to enforce the age minimum on it, which would protect minors from risking an addiction to it. 

This is an extremely nuanced and layered issue, but something needs to change because the complete ban of gambling is clearly not working.