Risky Spending and Teen Gambling

80% of high school students report having gambled for money during the past year.  Among all addictions, gambling has the highest suicide rate.  In this personal finance lesson, students review statistics about underage gambling,  listen to a section of a podcast on how teens get hooked on sports betting,  give thumbs up or thumbs down to statements that they believe are gambling, and create a public service poster to alert their peers to the dangers of teenage gambling.

Lesson Preparation

• Review the Risky Spending Lesson PPT slides slides and notes. Discussion questions and answers are in the notes sections of the slides.
• Make copies of Risky Spending Student Activity 1 and Risky Spending Student Activity 2 Infographic and Risky Spending Student Activity 2 rubric for each student.  Decide if you want students to create a hard copy of the poster or a digital copy.  If digital provide laptop and internet access.  If a hard copy,  provide blank paper and markers.
• Prep podcast “How Teenagers Can Get Hooked on Sports Betting” – start at 1:30 and end at 5:44

Warm Up – Have you played an online game with pay-to-play activities where you pay for extra coins, gems, power-ups, loot boxes, and skins?
Have you ever spent more money than you intended?

Activity/Procedure

1. Students discuss statistics that highlight the problems of teen gambling.
2.  Listen to an excerpt from a podcast and have students complete the listening guide Risky Spending Student Activity 1.  https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/how-teenagers-can-get-hooked-on-sports-betting/    start at 1:30 and end at 5:44
3. Thumbs up/Thumbs down activity from PPT Slides: Ask Students: “Why do you think this situation is or isn’t gambling?  What needs to change in the situation so that it would be considered gambling (or not gambling)?” Discuss answers.
4. Create a public service poster to educate peers about underage gambling.  Hand out the Risky Spending Student Activity 2 Infographic and Risky Spending Student Activity 2 rubric and have students choose one of the topics as the subject of their poster.  They can create a hard copy of the poster to display in school, or a digital copy for their social media.

Wrap Up:

• Anybody can reach out to 1-800-GAMBLER.

It’s a hotline that anybody can call and just say, “hey  I’m having a problem” or “I have a friend that I noticed is having a problem, I just want to talk to you, and I want to see what I can do and get  help” and it’s free.

Talk to someone.

For more information and to extend the lesson:

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/teens-gambling-its-a-risk

https://www.colorado.edu/health/blog/gambling-sports-betting

https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/lesson-plan/Lesson_Online_Gambling_Youth.pdf

Risky Spending Lesson PPT slides

Risky Spending Student Activity 1

Risky Spending Student Activity 2 Infographic

Sources for Infographic

• https://www.1800gambler.net/about-gambling
• https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a01c52df43b55bbaf44c61f/t/65e8a1a268f9c27d9b442985/1709744556283/Youth+Flyer+inv+6A.pdf

Risky Spending Student Activity 2 rubric