ONLINE CHURCH BULLETIN

IS GAMBLING GOOD FOR OUR CHILDREN?

Our children are targeted for gambling. Lottery tickets are highly accessible to children since they are sold in places like candy stores, supermarkets, and news stands. Gambling resorts now couple casinos with theme parks to attract youth. Is this healthy? Consider:

* Once most compulsive gamblers were men, but today 20% are teenagers and 34% are women.

* 90% of teenagers have gambled.

* 96% of compulsive gamblers began before age 14.

* Robert Klein, an Atlantic City (NJ) high school counselor found that 72% of students gambled in casinos, 69% started by age 16, 6% at ages 10-12, 9% before 10, and 6% shoplifted and 3% sold drugs for money to gamble.

* An experimental survey published in the Journal of Gambling Studies found that a 16-year-old girl was able to purchase a lottery ticket from 49 of 50 central Illinois lottery retailers at which she attempted to buy one.