Gambling on college campuses nationwide has become a prevalent problem, giving the pastime a bad reputation.
According to Amy Carmen-Peck, alcohol and drug specialist at the University of Illinois, the college environment is conducive to excessive gambling, an impulse-control disorder. With easy access to credit cards, sporting events and Internet gaming, college students often fall into the habit.
“Developmentally, they are challenged in a campus environment to do new things,” she said.
Harvard studies have shown that college students have a three times greater chance of developing a problem than the general population.
The Illinois Higher Education Center reported that 80 percent of college students gamble sometimes, with 20 percent doing so on a weekly basis. Of those who partake, 5 percent develop a problem.
“It’s becoming a national problem,” said Steve Akers, Executive Associate Dean of Students at Purdue University.
Despite the obviousness of the problem, Carmen-Peck said habitual gamblers are the most difficult population to treat. Once a person falls into the cycle, he or she continually looks for another chance to stay in action, even if it results in loss.
“It’s convenient, a quick buck, and I’m sure some people get excitement out of it,” Akers said.
Although there seems to be a general consensus on gambling as an issue, some university officials do not see gambling as a large problem on campus.
Dr. Harriett Haynes, director of counseling services at the University of Minnesota, has yet to see a significant problem arise in the Twin Cities.
“Gambling has not been a big issue,” Haynes said. “On the whole, it has not stuck out in my mind as something very problematic.”
University of Wisconsin students, however, have seen their fair share of problems with gambling, although such problems tend to stay buried for few to see.
“It’s a little like alcohol,” said Bob McGrath, director of counseling services at UW’s University Health Services. “And worse that we know it’s a problem and we hear people refer to it as their roommate’s problem but they don’t identify themselves. They don’t come in and say, ‘I have a problem,’ until they get in lots of trouble.”
McGrath said he thinks students travel to Ho-Chunk Casino more often than they gamble through their own private games or bookies.
However, in response to a UW student’s alleged murder of three roommates to whom he owed tens of thousands in gambling debt, McGrath said such extreme situations are well beyond the norm at UW.
“We could generally say that when there are gambling problems on campus, they are much milder,” McGrath said. “There may be some significant money, but not like what they are talking about.”
There is no telling whether Meng-Ju Wu, the student charged with triple homicide, sought help from UHS after realizing he had a problem. Early police reports show Wu telling police that he planned to stop gambling because he lost a lot of money and was scared his parents would discover his gambling addiction.
UHS offers counseling services to individuals with gambling addiction; however, they are rarely utilized because of the small number of students who come forward.
“The solution is often the problem,” McGrath said. “How do you get out of a gambling debt? You gamble more.”
According to Carmen-Peck, the disorder works much like an addiction, with various levels of severity. She said those who begin gambling in college years are more susceptible to becoming addicted later in life, and that a relatively large population of students do reach the “desperation” level in college.
