Fredericksburg Parent

22 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • September 2022 Ask the Expert a sk t h e e x p e rt INTERVIEWED BY EMILY FREEHLING Understand the Importance of Talking to Your Kids About Sports betting became legal in Virginia at the start of 2021, and since then, Virginians have been exposed to an increased amount of advertising for sports betting and related gaming. "The more you see it, the more it becomes normalized, and the more people are going to start participating in it," said Anne Rogers, problem gambling prevention coordinator with the Office of Behavioral Health Wellness through the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. Rogers and others in the state who focus on mental health say it's important for parents to understand that youth are more susceptible to problem gambling than adults because their brains are still developing. They urge parents to talk to kids about gambling in the same way they would talk about the risks of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. "I cannot tell you how many parents I have talked to who have talked about their child having a gaming or gambling problem that have said initially that they encouraged and supported their child's gambling because it wasn't drink- ing or drugs," says Carolyn Hawley, an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University. "We have to shift that stance and recognize that there are harms associated with gambling." Virginia public schools will begin to incor- porate gambling into the curriculum as early as this school year, thanks to recent state legislation. While the legal age for gambling is 18 in Virginia, national statistics show that high school-age students are accessing online gambling sites. The National Council on Problem Gambling reports that 60% to 80% of U.S. high school students report having gambled for money within the past year. Hawley emphasizes that gambling addiction is more prevalent among young people than it is in the adult population. While gambling disorder affects an estimated 1 to 3 per- cent of adults, it impacts 4 to 8 percent of American youth. She also notes that studies have shown that gambling addiction has the highest suicide rate among all addictions. GAMBLING and GAMING

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