Five years ago on May 14 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was unconstitutional. This opened the floodgates toward a rapid expansion of legalized sports betting into most U.S. states.
Now some states are pushing back, aiming at protections against gaming addiction, especially among the young. The weapon they propose to use is education. A report in Gaming Today notes that the National Council on Problem Gambling estimates this problem affects 6 percent of children ages 12 to 17.
Virginia was the first state to pass legislation requiring school-level gambling education. HB 1108 added instruction on gambling addiction to the curriculum which also addresses drug and alcohol.
The bill was not only bipartisan, it was nearly unanimous, with a 97-3 vote in the House of Delegates and unanimous consent in the Senate. It became law on April 8. The one problem is that the bill did not include a funding mechanism.
In New Jersey, Gaming Today reported that lawmakers have introduced A5308, requiring school districts to include gambling addiction instruction for high school students as part of the health curriculum. It has been advanced out of the Assembly’s Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee will be heard by the Assembly Education Committee.
The bill specifies, “each school district that includes grades nine through 12, or any combination thereof, shall incorporate instruction on the potential risks of compulsive gambling into the curriculum for students as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education.”
A second bill, A5226, would ban sports betting ads at public colleges and universities.
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in Michigan to educate teens about the risks of gambling.
Its author, Senator Joseph N. Bellino Jr. declared in a press release, “With the popularity of mobile betting apps and online sports betting now being legal in over 30 states, teenagers are having problems with gambling addiction.” The senator added, “It has been reported that many young people don’t see gambling as risky and that the percentage of high school students with a gambling problem is double that of adults. My bill has bipartisan support to head off this growing problem by acting to raise awareness among our students about the real risks of gambling.”
Bellino’s Bill 54 would require a program of instruction aimed at grade and age groups to be ready for distribution to school districts and academies by July 1, 2024. The bill is stuck in the Senate Education Committee.
However the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) will soon launch a Responsible Gaming campaign. It is aimed at encouraging parents, siblings and peers to be knowledgeable about the signs of problem gaming. Such as carrying gambling materials and gambling with cash supposed to be used for school.
Maryland state Senator Bryan Simonaire has for three years unsuccessfully tried to pass a school gambling education bill. Each time the bill has stalled in committee. Opponents argue that mandating specific mandates would open the gate to others.
This year West Virginia Delegates Sean Hornbuckle and Larry Pack filed the bipartisan HB 4812 that required a “personal finance literacy pilot program to be implemented in at least five public high schools.” However by the end of the legislative session in March, the bill was still languishing in the House Education Committee. Hornbuckle says he will file the bill again next year.
