Through the bustling halls of every high school in Maryland, at stairways during lunch, and in gyms after school, risky, yet lucrative conversations ensue. From talks of eight-leg parlays, to money lines on low-level European soccer, to prop bets on tennis players who have never seen the lights of Arthur Ashe stadium, high school students are beginning to explore the highs and lows of sports betting. Now legal in 36 states (plus D.C.), with mobile betting legal in 26 of those states, sports gambling is exploding nationally, potentially imploding the money habits of teenagers before they have even formed.
Sports betting was legalized in the state of Maryland in 2020 through a voter referendum. The Maryland Legislature passed Bill HB 940 and it was then signed by then-governor Larry Hogan on May 18, 2021. The bill set Maryland’s legal betting age at 21 for all sports betting, including mobile/online betting. Although advised to wait until 21 and obey the law, many underage teenagers have dived into the endless world of betting. With just a few clicks, teenagers have begun to wager their life savings on whether Lebron James will score over or under 28.5 points.
For those under the legal age of 21, and unable to bypass the social security firewall that most online platforms enforce, the options for high school students to bet seem low, but in reality, that is far from the truth. While it might be easy to just use a parent account, for teenagers, that takes away the sense of control, so within themselves, they have created their own sports betting systems. Through transfers on Venmo and Paypal, free bets via referrals and 17-year-old bookies, the teenage sports betting system is well thought-out. “I saw people being really successful and felt it could be easy to profit,” an anonymous sophomore said.
Although this structure offers teenagers an accessible way to partake in sports betting, it also increases the risks of losing large sums of money. “I’ve seen a lot of people drop 100 bucks like it’s nothing,” an anonymous senior said.
This betting is not just a $10 buy-in for a friendly fantasy football league, nor is it throwing a few dollars around in a basement betting on what color the Gatorade pour is after the Super Bowl. This betting includes parlays, which are multiple bets placed on each other, more risk, and more reward, involving multiple sports over multiple months, placing over $50 on money lines, and betting against the spread when the odds seem too good to be true. These do not lead to losing your lunch money for the day, but rather having to use hundreds of dollars of your Christmas money to pay the sportsbook back.
The reason for underage sports betting varies. Some dream of cashing in a thousand-dollar parlay; others view it as a fun pastime. “I see it as a way to make money, but sometimes, I find the adrenaline rush fun and exciting,” an anonymous sophomore said. But habits of saying, “it’s just 10 dollars,” or “I know this is a lock,” can lead to money habits that are hard to dissolve.
According to an article from Education Week, “About 5 percent of all young people between 11 and 17 meet at least one of the criteria for a gambling problem, such as liking the rush felt when gambling, writing IOUs to stay in the game, and wanting to win ‘the big one’ so much that they keep playing even when losing a great deal.”
For this reason, some teenagers have self-imposed limitations on their sports betting budgets. “If I am down by more than 30 dollars, I choose to stop betting for the day,” an anonymous sophomore from Richard Montgomery HS said. “If I were to ever lose 100 or more dollars, I would quit.”
While real betting can make real money, sometimes all teenagers need is the feeling of making the right bet, not necessarily the reward. Quince Orchard HS Sophomore Bennett Lavine has an app that uses fake currency to make bets, recreating online betting without putting your weekly allowance on the line. “The app provides me with a fake currency to bet with, and I use it to bet on any game or aspect of a game I want, similar to real sports betting, but with no risk,” Lavine said.
As betting continues to grow and become legalized in more states, concerns about gambling addictions at a young age have become apparent. “I know that it can lead to an unhealthy addiction and could cause me to have poor judgment and management of my money,” Lavine said.
This opinion, however, is not shared by all teenagers. “I think as long as you are responsible with how you bet or bet with an adult above 21…[there is] no issue with sports betting in high school,” an anonymous junior from Richard Montgomery said.
Even though teenagers do it themselves, most of them still believe you should be at least 21 in order to bet. If you can’t drink till you’re 21, then why should you be able to bet?
“The age should definitely stay at 21,” an anonymous sophomore from Richard Montgomery said. “I feel like kids in high school shouldn’t be allowed to legally bet.” This view can seem a little redundant in current times, as the information is available to anyone, whether you are 16 or 21.
“I think betting should be legal[alized] at the same age you are allowed to get a job, which is around 16,” an anonymous junior from Richard Montgomery said. “If you’re making money, you should be allowed to spend it. [It] might not be the most responsible, but it’s your money in the end.”
Article written by Ari Fine of Richard Montgomery HS
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons