Gambling opportunities and venues are close to home. Lotteries, scratch cards, and online poker are all easily accessible to everyone, including students. And of course, the traditional dim-lit casinos, the havens for gamblers, are scattered throughout cities.

With so many different forms of gambling, the total profit from gambling operations in Canada is high. CTV News estimated the net revenue from government-run lotteries, video lottery terminals, and casinos at $13.3 billion in 2006.

Although millions of Canadians dabble in risky gambling, and the Responsible Gambling Council reported that 332,000 people in Canada experience gambling problems, it is university-aged students (18-24) that are most likely to actually develop problems.

In fact, the rate at which students find themselves playing toss-up with their money is double that of people over 24.

Montreal’s McGill University did a review of 23 post-secondary gambling studies in 1999 and found that gambling problems were prevalent in seven per cent of post-secondary students, compared to 3.4 per cent of adults.

The Responsible Gambling Council states that in 2005, 6.7 per cent of students had a moderate or severe gambling problem.

When asked why students are at the highest risk for developing an addiction, Nathan Cooper, a psychologist for the Centre for Student Development at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario says the historical context of gambling played an important role in its current status.

?If we look historically at when gambling was introduced, when It’s become legalized, and how That’s emerged culturally, students in particular within the past 10 and 20 years are the first generation that have grown up in a culture that has accepted and legalized gambling activity. So that is a particular susceptibility in terms of overall general attitudes toward it.?

He nonetheless claims that a university environment does not necessarily increase the frequency of gambling. It is usually the market outside of a post-secondary setting that targets students through online pop-ups and good deals on casino nights.

Third-year McMaster engineering student Jonathen S. gambles recreationally with friends once or twice a week and attends casinos every few months.

Jonathen gambles ?for the money and the feeling you get when you win.?

?It’s like a rush of adrenaline,? he said. ?It’s like giving a little kid sugar.?

Jonathen confesses to having steadily increased his allotted spending amount.

?I started going to the casino in February only willing to spend $100, now I am willing to go as much as $600 and lose it without thinking of it.?
Cooper says increasing your spending limit or breaking your set amount is a sign of a potential gambling problem.

Jonathen explains that his interest in casinos and gambling lies in the promptness of it all.

?It’s like a quick investment. You put down a certain amount of money and you can double-up or even get more [than] what you invested. There is the obvious risk of losing it, but I’ve gambled enough to be pretty confident that I will win, hence making it, in the end, not a waste of money.?

An overconfident attitude, especially after a few wins, is common among students unfamiliar with the probabilities of gambling. Cooper says gambling has particular psychological aspects.

?Basically It’s a series of superstitious behaviours: the ability to recall wins versus the ability to recall losses,? he said.

?People are making judgments they actually feel that they can beat the odds, when in reality, the house always wins.?

After a little beginner’s luck, people may find themselves quickly losing their money, causing them to panic and continue playing to regain their losses.

Chasing one’s losses, Cooper says, is the most common way to get stuck in the gambling whirlpool.

?I get into the hole [of] $2,000-3,000, there’s really no other way I can think of to generate that amount of income within a short amount of time,? he explains the gambler’s thought process.

Getting caught in the gambling spiral can have devastating financial results.
?Cash flow issues; credit problems?maybe That’s not an early sign but it [can lead to] a lot of white collar crimes; preoccupation with it; starting to interfere with personal and social functioning. That’s how a lot of things are diagnosed about pathological gambling,? said Cooper.

?This is interfering with ability to do your schoolwork successfully and It’s also starting to negatively affect your relationships. People really don’t want you around a poker table anymore. Other close friends may be noticing a change in your behaviour if you seem a little more agitated, or they simply haven’t seen if You’re sitting behind a computer screen the whole time, playing blackjack or poker.?

The direct risks involved with gambling are fairly evident, including losses in cash and other assets; and feelings of restlessness, anxiety, and depression. But there are also many indirect risks.

People may adopt risky attitudes in the daily sectors of their lives, including their jobs. They may find themselves riding emotional rollercoasters and feeling isolated from their peers, their friends, and their families.

Jonathen knows a few friends whose lives have been affected by their parents? gambling problems, leading to social and familial complications.

?One resulted in a divorce, another [in the parents not speaking] to each other anymore, [and the] last one resulted in a separation, but the father worked out his gambling problems and hasn’t gambled ever since.?

Like any addiction, recognizing and admitting the problem is the first step to recovery. Unfortunately, most people deny any problem until it is too late to turn the tables back around.

?Most people that are drinking, doing drugs, or gambling are pretty happy with themselves. They really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel?they have to be out cash, out a job, lose a house?before they say: ?You know what, everybody told me, but I finally get it. This is a problem and I want to do something about it,?? said Cooper.

Some biological traits particularly increase the likelihood of an addiction, like impaired impulse control or hypersensitivity to endorphin-based stimulation.

Although Cooper declares bingo and lotteries to be the most addictive gambling activities, they yield smaller losses than other engagements, like games played in casinos or betting.

Addictions associated with online gambling, or gaming, are also making headway.

Online gambling is currently the fastest rising sector in the gambling industry. Unlike its real-life counterparts, it involves no communication besides networking. The games are very private, and if played excessively, begin to hinder social stimulation.

While most forms of gambling have more cons than pros, card games can at least help develop rational skills and provide a forum for social engagement.

Online gaming takes away that forum; people can spend hours upon hours huddled behind a computer screen without any physical interaction with others.

Overindulging in any type of gambling, however, can be seriously detrimental and should be addressed.

?It’s disturbing to hear about somebody who’s wearing a Depends diaper so that they can sit at a slot machine [or] sit at a computer,? said Cooper. ?[When] they don’t want to miss a round of poker [that badly], It’s problematic.?

Statistics Canada joined the Human Resources and Skills Department in a study tracking the educational pathways of 22,000 young adults. The six-year study began in 1999, when the subjects were between 18 and 20.

The results show that 15 per cent of students who attended a post-secondary institution dropped out before completion, and those students who chose to leave their respective schools more closely resembled those who initially decided against post-secondary.

The largest proportions of students leaving school were from Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia; the lowest proportion came from Prince Edward Island.

The students were more likely to be male, married, and come from families with lower levels of education. They were also more likely to have had lower grades and less involvement in high school.

Most started to consider dropping out in their first year of study.

The most frequent reasons cited for leaving school were to travel, to change institutions or programs, to take a break, or to work.

Only 10 per cent of the students who dropped out cited financial strain as the cause.

The survey differentiated between people who dropped out of school and people who quit school. The former returned to some sort of studies, while the latter become completely divorced from the post-secondary world.

Liz Marsden left Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario, where she was studying recreation and leisure, and transferred to Georgian College to pursue a business program.

?There were two main reasons, the first being the program. Coming out of high school, I didn’t really know for sure what I wanted to do. Recreation and leisure sounded interesting, so I decided on that. After some time in the program, I realized it definitely wasn’t for me. The second reason was the class size. Maybe It’s because of a certain type of learning style I have, but I cannot learn in a class with hundreds of students and where the teacher doesn’t know my name,? she said.

?In college, class sizes are smaller, much smaller?around 30 students. You get more one-on-one time with the teacher and get more personalized education,? she added.

She says her time in university did not set her back a year, but aided her in achieving her college diploma more quickly.

?With my year’s experience in university, I was able to put those credits towards my electives in the business program at Georgian College. I was able to fast-track through my program and obtained my business diploma in two years instead of three. I was able to secure a job right out of college thanks to the co-op program that was required through the program.?

The rate of students returning to post-secondary studies after dropping out is still quite high, depending on their reason for leaving.

For example, 68 per cent of students who left school to travel came back within two years, and 47 per cent who listed changing their school or program as their reason came back.

However, only 28 per cent who left to work, and 29 per cent who left because their grades were too low, returned. The survey did not specify whether the students returned to their original studies or new ones.

Leaving post-secondary education is often closely related to a student’s experience while attending an institution.

All students face the difficulties of adjusting to larger class sizes, heavier workloads, and the need to meet new people during their first year. If they are leaving home, they face new residences, new roommates, new rules, and new neighbourhoods, all while overcoming homesickness. Not everyone is cut out for the job.

On the bright side, Canada boasts the highest rate of post-secondary attainment in the world, and there has been a steady increase in college and university enrolment in recent years.

However, a discouraging factor in university attendance is the perceived uselessness of undergraduate degrees.

Newly graduated students often struggle to secure a well-paying job without pursuing a master’s degree or post-doctoral studies.

The survey showed 14.3 per cent of youth aged 22-24 earning the least amount of money had university degrees, while 12.8 per cent did not have high school diplomas.

That puts a higher percentage of university graduates than high-school drop-outs in the lowest salary bracket.