AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: Poker can be a bad deal
DATE: 4:51 AM
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BODY:
<p class="mobile-post">A growing number of young people are looking to ante up -- raising the
stakes on potential gambling problems, a poll released yesterday suggests.
More than a third of 18-to-34-year-olds play poker for money, with nearly
half that age group saying they play more now than they did two years ago,
according to the Responsible Gambling Council Poker Poll conducted by
Ipsos-Reid. "Frequency matters," Dr. Jon Kelly, council CEO, said. He said
it is a matter of concern that of those that play poker, almost a quarter
play once a week or more often. "If you are playing every single week,
that's 52 times a year -- that's a lots of opportunity to lose money." Kelly
was at Ryerson University yesterday as part of an awareness campaign for
young people. Students at Ryerson -- where there is a club for poker players
with a strict rule against playing for money -- say they know of people who
play often. "I don't know of anybody who has a problem," said Alex Yang, a
fourth-year student and former member of the Poker Society executive. "The
people I do know who play poker are either rich enough to lose or don't play
for money," Yang said. But Miranda Voth said she knows of someone who
constantly puts things off and cancels plans because he's playing online
poker. "There are 4% of people 18-34 who believe they can make a living at
poker," Kelly said. "If you start thinking of gambling as a way to make
money, then you ratchet up the risk that you're going to get in trouble."</p>
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