Max\u2019s friend group of high school boys in Manhattan throws an annual Super Bowl Party. But this year\u2019s gathering was \u201ca really sad moment,\u201d the 17-year-old told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be for the experience, but this year it wasn\u2019t,\u201d said Max (at his parents\u2019 request, his name has been changed). \u201cIt was everybody betting [on the game] \u2026 the theme of the party was essentially betting.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when,\u00a0Max said, he realized sports betting was becoming an addiction among his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids take money out of savings accounts or bar mitzvah accounts for betting,\u201d the senior at a private school in the city said. \u201cI know kids who stay up super late and sacrifice their grades to watch sports across the country, just because they can bet on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Max, a Manhattan teen who attends a private school, says that the majority of boys in his grade are illegally using sports betting apps. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Though New Yorkers have to be 21 to place a bet, underage gambling is an emerging epidemic. Some 90% of high school students surveyed by the New York Council on Problem Gambling said they\u2019d gambled<\/a> at least once in the past year.<\/p>\n FanDuel and DraftKings are the most popular apps of choice at Max\u2019s school. He estimates 80% of the boys in his class have placed a bet and probably 40% gamble regularly \u2014 using their parents\u2019 accounts.<\/p>\n Max\u2019s dad opened the FanDuel account using his own Social Security number, date of birth and banking info \u2014\u00a0verification required by the major betting apps \u2014\u00a0then turned it over to the 17-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d be saying, \u2018Oh, yeah, it\u2019s not a big deal,’\u201d Max recalled of how he and his friends talked their parents into creating accounts for them. \u201c\u2018You know, we all have it, and we\u2019re not betting a lot of money.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI said fine. I just didn\u2019t think anything about it. It was something that he and his friends were all doing,\u201d Max\u2019s dad, who works in finance, admitted to The Post.<\/p>\n Teens told The Post how they and their friends often use the accounts of friends or parents to gain access to gambling apps \u2014\u00a0which companies like FanDuel do not allow. REUTERS<\/p>\n Max said he\u2019s been \u201cpretty controlled\u2019 with his $5 bets but that many of his friends are \u201c100% addicted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt school, it\u2019s all kids with their gambling apps in class,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it never stops because it\u2019s football season, then basketball, then baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n The youngest gambler he knows is just 11 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cI know kids in middle school who are starting to gamble,\u201d Max said. His friends \u201cweren\u2019t even talking about it in freshman year but the younger kids, it\u2019s all they talk about now. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n For teen boys, sports betting \u201cnever stops because it\u2019s football season, then basketball, then baseball.\u201d REUTERS<\/p>\n Keith Whyte, President of Safer Gambling Strategies, told The Post that teenage boys have the highest rate of participation in online sports betting. According to the group, 5% of kids aged 12-17 have gambling problems \u2014 quadruple as many as two years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe part of their brain that governs risk and reward and decision-making is not fully matured,\u201d Whyte said. \u201cNow that gambling is so accessible and unregulated forms of sports betting are so easily accessible, those two things combine into a sort of toxic cocktail of risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Max\u2019s dad now sees gambling as teen-boy kryptonite: \u201cThey all think there\u2019s a level of skill and knowledge that they have. They feel like they have some sophistication and can beat the system, beat the man. It\u2019s the mindset of teenage boys \u2014 they feel like, \u2018I\u2019m smarter than adults, I can figure this out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He suspects the people behind the apps know this.<\/p>\n Lewis Bigmore was just 16 when he took home a five-figure jackpot. Courtesy of Lewis Bigmore<\/p>\n Bigmore, now 29, struggled with gambling for more than a decade after a big win as a teen. Courtesy of Lewis Bigmore<\/p>\n \u201cIf you get someone when they\u2019re young, it\u2019s almost like a rewiring of their brain,\u201d the dad said. \u201cIt\u2019s not by accident that all these teenage boys, who are under 18, are on these apps all the time \u2026 It\u2019s clearly part of the [business] strategy, even though [the apps] won\u2019t say it.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for FanDuel told The Post that customers are forbidden from \u201callowing other individuals to wager on their account\u201d and that doing so \u201cwill result in a permanent ban from our platform.\u201d They also note that, \u201cAs a legal, licensed and regulated operator, we require our customers to go through a rigorous sign-up process which includes providing identifying information date of legal name, date of birth, social security number, and address.\u201d<\/p>\n They also pointed to their parental portal, Conversations about Betting<\/a>, which warns of the dangers of underage gambling and addresses why customers<\/a> should not share accounts.<\/p>\n But sources told The Post that kids who aren\u2019t able to access a family member\u2019s account sometimes use VPNs and cryptocurrency to sign into unregulated or offshore websites.<\/p>\n Isaac Rose-Berman is a professional sports bettor who also speaks to teenage boys about the dangers of his trade. Courtesy of Isaac Rose Berman<\/p>\n James, a 17-year-old from New Jersey \u2014\u00a0where the minimum age to bet is 21 \u2014 said it was easy to access a FanDuel account without his parents even knowing, thanks to a family friend. \u201cI was like, \u2018Hey, bro, can I use that?\u2019\u201d (James is not his real name.)<\/p>\n Though that was two years ago, the public-school senior\u2019s parents still don\u2019t know he has gambled. He started betting money he made from selling clothes online.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was appealing, like, I don\u2019t know, it looks fun, and there\u2019s the huge potential upside to it,\u201d James said, adding that gambling is \u201cincredibly normal\u201d among his friends. \u201cI wasn\u2019t gambling thousands and thousands of dollars, so the risk of what I could lose wasn\u2019t huge.\u201d<\/p>\n After a couple of months, however, a friend showed him the online casino side of FanDuel and, James said, he got hooked fast.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re betting on an NFL game, it\u2019s three hours. You don\u2019t have that boom, boom, boom, bat, bat, bat experience,\u201d he explained. \u201cOnce I moved over to the casino thing, that\u2019s when it became an addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n Major betting apps have opened up \u201czones\u201d in stadiums around the country, including Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. AP<\/p>\n Over two years, James said, he bet more than $18,000 of his own money and walked away with a net $2,000 loss.<\/p>\n He resolved to quit after realizing his bank statement showed nothing but FanDuel transactions for a straight week: \u201cIt became more stressful than fun, and I was doing it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorney Benjamin Schenk, who is representing complainants<\/a> in an upcoming lawsuit concerning underage online gambling addiction, said he\u2019s seen much worse \u2014\u00a0including kids who have \u201cbeen groomed through influencer gambling culture on platforms like Twitch\u201d and \u201clook at gambling as a positive expression of masculinity.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuit\u2019s youngest complainant so far is 12.<\/p>\n Though New Yorkers have to be 18 to place a bet, underage gambling is an emerging epidemic. Some 90% of high school students surveyed by the New York Council on Problem Gambling said they\u2019d gambled at least once in the past year. bongkarn \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve met kids who lost a decent amount of money, got embarrassed, tried to win it back, and then when they lost it again self-harmed,\u201d Schenk added.<\/p>\n Lewis Bigmore, 29, is from the United Kingdom and was just 16 when he made an online bet on the English Football League under his father\u2019s name. He won more than $85,000 (\u00a364,000), which his dad begrudgingly cashed out on the condition that he put it in savings and premium bonds.<\/p>\n But when Bigmore turned 18, the age of majority in the UK, he got access to the money and craved the high of another win. Within three years, he\u2019d blown through all his winnings and was taking out payday loans to stay afloat.<\/p>\n It consumed him to the point that he was avoiding friends and family. \u201cI never spoke to anyone because that was an uncomfortable conversation to have. Like, how do you get addicted to losing money?\u201d<\/p>\n Keith Whyte, President of Safer Gambling Strategies, told The Post that teen boys are especially susceptible to gambling addiction because their brains are still developing. Courtesy of Keith Whyte<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t placed a bet since January, his longest \u201cclean streak\u201d yet.<\/p>\n Isaac Rose-Berman, 25, is a professional sports bettor who also speaks to teenage boys about the dangers of his trade.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I go in and talk to them, it\u2019s like, \u2018Look, I hire PhDs to run my models. You\u2019re not doing that. If you win, it\u2019s just gonna be getting lucky. You\u2019re basically getting fleeced,\u2019\u201d the Brooklynite told The Post.<\/p>\n Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed a bill into law that helps educate students on the dangers of gambling. AP<\/p>\n He sees \u201ca very large number of boys\u201d at the New York City schools he visits who are gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cKids are watching ESPN and seeing DraftKings ads,\u201d Rose-Berman said. \u201cEvery podcast you listen to is sponsored by a betting company, and what that does is normalize the activity.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative for DraftKings said the company uses \u201cadvanced Know Your Customer technology \u2014 trusted by the financial industry and law enforcement \u2014 to verify the age and identity of our customers. Any use of our platform by minors is strictly prohibited, in violation of both our terms of use and applicable law and if unauthorized activity is detected, we close the account.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General opened an investigation<\/a> into the harms of youth gambling. And Virginia passed a gambling addiction education bill<\/a>, signed into law in 2022, which adds instruction on gambling addiction to school curriculum.<\/p>\n