Audrey Folia | Head Editor
March 20, 2025
With March coming into full swing, March Madness bets and brackets are solidified around the United States. But, especially in recent years, it seems like this sort of sports betting has become a significant trend among high schoolers, specifically among high school boys. But, the problem is that it’s not just March Madness; it’s sports betting for every significant sporting event throughout the year: it’s poker games with friends on Friday nights, it’s our own high school’s winter formal theme being “casino night.”
Sports betting doesn’t have to be a pressing issue. In many ways, it’s just a fun way for a friend group to bond over sports. For example, Junior Jack Vermillion described his friend group’s participation in fantasy football, and how they “do punishments for the loser.” Though it may not be the case for the loser, on a surface level, there don’t appear to be very many harmful effects of sports betting. After all, it’s “all fun and games,” according to Jack.
And, naturally, the consequences of participating in this behavior is obvious, if money is being bet, then there is the opportunity for money to be lost. For example, Junior Jack Steele claimed his cousins, who are 18 and 21 years old, “both did it and lost substantial amounts of money.” So if money isn’t being bet, then there’s no harm, right? But what about the unforeseen effects of betting? Sports betting might not be as harmless as it seems.
The truth is that when children who were introduced to this so-called “harmless betting” at the age of 12 were four times more likely to develop gambling problems later, according to the Department of Public Health. And, 60%-80% of high schoolers claimed to have gambled for money in the past year. The problem has to do with the foundation that even participating in playful betting, like March Madness, creates in an adolescent mind. The question is why, despite this, it still seems to be such a significant trend?
Though teenagers hate to hear it, it’s a fact that our brains are not fully developed. So, betting in this way promotes risk-taking behaviors and limits our impulse control, factors that should be maturing as teens get older. When “harmless betting” spirals into a habit and a reliance on instant gratification, it isn’t so harmless anymore.
But, this might just be the very reason betting is so prevalent right now. It is certainly related to the rise of the digital age and sites creating special platforms that bypass gambling laws by using “virtual currencies” and therefore market themselves as “suitable for ages 13 and up”(Boys Education Series). But, it is more so the reason why it is a concern that is also the reason adolescents do it; the idea of a dopamine rush. Social pressures of friend groups put aside, money put aside, sports betting is a form of gambling. It’s this dopamine rush, the thrill of winning, that makes it both so addicting and so harmful for the youth.
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