- - - - - - - - - - - . ;' ,S t r .The Michigan Daily - Weed, Campus high rollers don't always know w By Elena Lipson Daily Staff Writer "It was 2 a.m. and we had little stacks worth S200 each," recounted LSA junior Mike, who requested that his last name be withheld. "We were trying to make a St. Louis arch between (our separate stacks). Eventually we did and won 52,500. And then we went to the strip club after. It was an exciting night." he described his biggest casino win. Mike, who cruises off to Canada's Casino Windsor about once a week, is an avid gambler both inside and outside the casino. In addition to playing blackjack, roulette, Caribbean stud poker and craps, every day he places other "little bets like who did better on a test, or who's right about a given occurrence." Mike may be an extreme case, but gambling grooves like his are surpris- ingly prevalent among college stu- dents. A 1991 study conducted by Leiseur et al. examined 1771 students from six colleges and universities in five states, and reported a full 85 per- cent of students gamble with 23 per- cent gambling once a week or more. A more recent 1998 study by Winters, Dorr and Stinchfield recon- firmed these findings and testified that gambling continues to thrive on campus. The most popular form of gam- bling, according to the Leiseur study, is playing cards for money, in which 51 percent of respondents participat- ed. Other popular gambling activities are casino games (49 percent), num- bers or lotteries (46 percent), games of skill such as pool, bowling or golf (44 percent), bingo (43 percent), horse or dog races (31 percent) and sports betting (29 percent). The study also found that males gambled more than females in all games except bingo. An avenue for even greater growth in gambling exists on the Internet. The only study to examine the fre- quency of Internet gambling was a 1998 University of Michigan study conducted by Michael Cross and Ann Vollano on student-athletes. They found roughly 1 percent of gamblers use the Internet to gamble. Bill Saum, NCAA director of agent and gambling activities, predicts an increase in this number because most college students possess the resources to gamble on the Internet -- two-thirds of college students have credit cards, and most have access to unlimited Internet use. Moreover, Internet gambling offers student gamblers the tantalizing prospect of "virtual anonymity." Yet regardless of the type of gam- bling activities students engage in, they usually gamble for similar rea- sons. The most common motive for gam- bling is pure recreation. LSA junior Andy (last name with- held) explained, "It's an entertain- ment form. There are only so many parties, movies, bars and times you can hang out with the guys. It's fun. They (Casino Windsor) comp you free stuff. I can have a free hotel room anytime I'm there or get free food for my friends." Not everyone is enough of a high roller to get free amenities like Andy. Nikeisha Edwards is an LSA junior whose gambling activities are limited to the S30 she spent on bingo on spring break last year. "At first I just played for fun," Nikeisha said. "but then after under- standing what the game was, I really wanted to win." Mike said he gambles both to entertain himself and score some extra income. "It makes things exciting. It's a good way to supplement income. If you're going to waste money anyway, you may as well as take a chance to get a lot more money for you to waste," he rationalized. LSA junior Howie Berman, who typically bets SI0-S30 on sports every week, said money is not the The perfect combination of cards, cigars, and lots o' green is all t driving force behind his gambling activities. "I really just do it to pique my interest in sports," said Berman. "I bet on games I wouldn't normally watch just so I can watch them. More people do it because they are sports fans than anything else. I really don't do it for the money." In fact, Kevin O'Neill, New Jersey's deputy director of the Counsel on Compulsive Gambling, said the only group of gamblers that gamble purely for money are profes- sional gamblers, which make up only 2-3 percent of the entire gambling populations. While money does not seem to be the primary ignition behind student gambling endeavors, it is what drives the industry. In O'Neill's words, gam- bling functions because there is an inherent "house edge. Casinos are built on losers." Although O'Neill's an unsettling one fo paradoxical theory is nos have had a large nomic impact on corr the country. As cas steadily increased, v making 176 million v from 154 million in l ing number of people dropped dramatically micro-economic imp ducted by the Ar accounting firm. Even the White H nized the gaming it notable achievcments off welfare and intc and promoting cc responsibility," in the J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., prc of the American Gam Many bashful co admit that they have in "helping" the ecor communities. Mike Edwards all concede ly lose when they gat \ ividly recalls the nia to S2000 on one sessi With the odds s them, some college g financial and psycl l ems. Debt is the most c encountered by co The 1998 Universit study found that rout student a-hletes u ho money as a result of In the worst-case s sionally students (us tors) owe money to c nals and find thenm than financial dang' their debts, accordini Compulsive gami serious problem amo LOUIS 6Ri , D. Loose change in the bank always gives the hungry gambler one last chance to strike it rich and baby a new pair of shoes.