By Morgan Armitage & Jackson Smith
Sports Editor & Web Editor

Fans who watch the Super Bowl may have noticed a certain theme in the advertisements. Between the artificial intelligence and weight loss ads, there was also quite a few pushing sports betting or gambling. 

Jacob Graves showing off sports betting app Underdog on his phone. Photo by Morgan Armitage

Online gambling and sports betting are becoming more prevalent, and it seems that the target audience keeps getting younger. Online gambling is not technically legal for people under age 21 in the United States. But that certainly isn’t stopping people, and the app’s apparent safeguards aren’t either.

Most betting apps don’t require social security numbers, and under-age bettors can slip through the cracks with a virtual private network (VPN). This rings true for Hector Gongora, who has experience with sports betting and gambling. 

Hector Gongora is 19 and a student at Clackamas Community College, who reportedly really enjoys betting.

Hector Gongora poses for a photo. Photo by Wesley Northcote

“Dude, gambling is fun!” Gongora said. Gongora went on to list numerous apps that he gambles with, and added that he uses a VPN to access most of them.

“My friend put me on, I just got to be “in Brazil” for it, but it’s whatever, it’s fire,” Gongora said. He works part time at Costco, and claims to have started gambling at 18 after his friend introduced it to him.

Gongora claims he has lost quite a bit of money because of it.

“I think I’ve lost more than $3,000,” Gongora said. Though, he doesn’t appear too bothered by losses, following with, “Listen, if you win some, you lose some.”

Gongora admits that he’s gone into credit card debt due to gambling. “The max that I’ve gone into debt was $1,500, but I paid it off,” Gongora said.

He was able to pay off that debt from the money he got from federal financial aid. 

Gongora admitted that he wanted to gamble on the Super Bowl, but was unable to afford it after betting his money on something else.

“Probably like that week, I lost $400, because some friend was saying ‘Dude, you can make it all back.’ It started off as $50, and went all the way to $400. It was fun, though,” Gongora said. “I was actually going to gamble before I saw the ads, I just didn’t have enough money.”

He also said that he is easily influenced by advertisements, seeing people gamble online or on social media.

“I saw this one guy actually bet his whole house. The house was like $2 million, and I’m like damn. If this guy’s going all in, might as well put in $100,” Gongora said.

Gongora doesn’t consider his gambling a problem, and is not concerned about any potential or future effects it might have. 

But Gongora’s view on gambling doesn’t apply to everyone.

CCC’s psychology instructor Jessica Kissler has a different lens on gambling behaviors.

Jessica Kissler posing for a photo. Photo by Wesley Northcote

“Gambling behavior in general is one of those addictive behaviors that’s actually really easy for people to hide,” Kissler said.

According to Kissler, gambling has a large mental and emotional impact on those who participate, which can gradually present themselves in every day life. 

“Some of the kind of classic signs that we would see might be social isolation. They might have changes in their mood, feeling more agitated. They might feel depressed,” Kissler said.

Kissler goes on to state that these behaviors are that of someone who has a serious gambling problem, not just someone who casually bets. Though, she amends that it can start casually and become something worse. 

Accompanying the wave of betting apps is a tsunami of young adult gamblers. Many of these apps are curated for young adults, posing as games that seem fun and easy.

“If we look at the trends, it’s absolutely on the rise. Particularly with young adults and college age students,” said Kissler. “They’re hooking younger individuals into that gambling mindset much earlier on.” 

Age plays a large part in gambling addictions. A human’s brain doesn’t finish developing until their mid-twenties. 

The cognitive control center which is responsible for decision making skills and understanding consequences takes longer to develop than other functions. This makes college students a prime target for peer or competition based advertising.

And it isn’t just advertisements either. Students in college are also more likely to succumb to subtle forms of peer pressure, even when they’re inadvertent. 

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be coercive in nature… it’s more subtle, like ‘Hey, we’re gonna hang out and watch the game. Everyone’s placing bets on it, do you want to join?’ So in that regard, I could see how there would be that peer pressure,” Kissler said.

Sports betting has been around for awhile, but the target audience appears to be shifting. Some see betting as unproblematic, while others believe it is just the beginning to an ever-growing issue. But as they say, there’s two sides to every coin. 

If you or anyone you know suffers from addiction in gambling, contact the State of Oregon Problem Gambling Hotline at 1-877-695-4648 (MY-LIMIT).