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As a college student, son of a Baptist minister and young cellist, you wouldn’t expect to find his name associated with a police record.
But Greg is one of many college students running increasing debts on the online internet scene and turning to crime to pay for it.
Experts from the Council of Compulsive Gambling say personalities such as Greg’s - competitive, intelligent – are perfect candidates to gambling debt. In today’s world with the convenience and access through the internet they are highly vulnerable.
However, Greg’s is not a case in point.
Online gambling on college campuses is an ever increasing phenomenon.
Since gambling at actual casinos is prohibited to this age group, hundreds who now have access to the internet are being lured to the sites – and to debt.
In fact, of the $200 million a day spent at online gambling sites, a large percentage has its sources on US college campuses.
Experts agree, for college students with credit cards, the lure of internet gambling is difficult to resist.
The debt, however, forces these students to resort to crime.
As one expert explained, gambling on college campuses has always been a problem. This, however, is becoming epidemic thanks to online gambling alternatives.
Research done by the Council on Compulsive Gambling indicates that the average profile of compulsive student gamblers are competitive men of high intelligence and energy, good grades, popularity, strengths in math and with a part-time job.
In fact, in Greg’s case, he also attended a $19,000 per annum school and was a finance and accounting major.
Greg is just symbolic of the growing problem.
Experts estimate in the coming years, Greg’s will be a common event on college campuses.
The public’s attention has already been drawn to the issue by talk shows such as Good Morning America, the Today Show and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
College kids are clocking up debts into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Many are being faced with desperate situations and are considering desperate measures.
They are turning to crime, some even considering suicide.
While universities can monitor campus computers they cannot interfere with private pc’s.
The best they provide is counseling for those who have recognized they have a problem.
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