What Parents Can Do
Talk to your kids about the dangers of gambling. “You go out of your way to talk with your kids about drugs, alcohol, and sex,” says Keith Whyte. “Make sure that you add gambling to your mental roster of risky behavior to discuss. Talking to your kids helps stave off a lot of problems.”
Limit your child’s exposure to gambling. “You can’t peg who’s going to have a problem and who won’t—and even a little experimentation can land someone into trouble,” Whyte says. So consider nixing your teen’s Friday night poker game, and think twice about sticking a lottery ticket in her birthday card.
Watch out for the warning signs. Problem gamblers may start doing poorly in school, borrow or steal money to place bets, and become obsessed with gambling to the point of losing interest in other activities. And gambling often goes hand in hand with other problems: “Smoking, drinking, gambling—these behaviors can cluster and feed on each other,” Whyte says. “If you’re a problem gambler, you’re much more likely to be a problem drinker.”