Minors Participating in Sports Wagering: S7908 Gounardes

MEMORANDUM OF SUPPORT

S7908 Gounardes
Preventing minors from participating in sports wagering

The above-referenced legislation amends the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law to require stronger safeguards to prevent minors from participating in online sports wagering and to digitize the voluntary self-exclusion form that allows problem gamblers to bar themselves from casinos, lottery, gambling sites and the like. Self-exclusion has the added benefit of preventing minor children from impersonating their parents on sports betting sites if the parents have opted out.

The New York State Catholic Conference supports this legislation.

Despite legal prohibitions, sports gambling by minors is a serious problem in New York and elsewhere. According to the sponsor’s memo, an NCAA survey found 58% of college students 18-22 having placed bets in the last year, despite it being illegal for people under 21. The plague of online sports gambling, made worse by the giant sports book sites’ ubiquitous advertisements luring in users with free bets and other enticements, leads to devastating impacts for those prone to gambling addiction. Young people can quickly find themselves thousands of dollars in debt and increasingly desperate. It can lead to crime, self-harm, suicide and numerous other ills.

Clearly, the gatekeeping done by the sports betting sites is insufficient, and a more thorough process to ensure minors are not participating in this addictive practice is necessary, in the same way we as a society have come to understand the limits that must be placed on minors using social media, cigarettes or alcohol.

We applaud the sponsor’s recognition of this serious social problem, and we support this legislation that seeks to address it. We urge its passage.