KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – One in three teenagers admits to gambling underage, according to a survey by Common Sense Media. Thirty-six percent of boys gambled last year.
The survey results come as Missouri bettors wagered $542 million in December, the first month of legal sports betting in the state. Experts in the Kansas City metro who study compulsive gambling say the survey results on teenage gambling are not surprising. They say brains don’t fully develop until a person’s mid-20s, and the social incentives for gambling are prime real estate for teenage boys.
Keith Spare, chair of the Kansas City Port Authority Problem Gambling Fund Advisory Committee, has 30 years of experience in the field of problem gambling…