You can’t watch sports these days without being hit by gambling ads. They are everywhere, plastered across hockey broadcasts, embedded in pre-game shows, sliding into social media feeds. And they’re not just ads; they are slick, fun and social, often fronted by relatable celebrities touting the thrill of gambling. It’s hard not to be reminded of those old Camel cigarette campaigns: technically “for adults only,” but with a wink and a smile, kids got the message all the same.
This past week, the McCreary Centre Society released From Loot Boxes to Lottery Tickets: Gaming & Gambling among BC Youth aged 12–18. The report draws on surveys from more than 38,000 students across the province, and the findings are striking. One in five youth reported gambling for money in the past year, up from 18% in 2018. Online sports betting, while still less common overall, has doubled since 2018 (4% compared to 2%) and is now the gambling activity young people are most likely to engage in regularly. The most popular monetized activity, however, wasn’t betting at all but buying in-game items like loot boxes, something 20% of youth had done. And 12% of youth said their gaming had reached a point where they needed help. For gambling, that number was 1%, with another 1% saying both had become problematic.
In the United States, the story is similar but amplified: studies suggest that up to 60–80% of high school students have gambled in the past year, with problem gambling rates among young men and college students significantly higher than the general population.
What is striking is how these activities overlap and reinforce each other. While the survey doesn’t track individuals across categories, the fact that both loot boxes and gambling each draw in 20% of youth suggests a generation being gradually acclimated to risk-based spending, first through the games they play, and then through the sports they watch.
The report also highlights the ripple effects: poorer sleep, disrupted eating and reduced school attendance. The risk factors look familiar, poverty, loneliness, bullying and a lack of close in-person friendships. The protective factors do too: adult support, healthy boundaries around screen use and strong connections to school and community.
Earlier this year, my colleague and friend Dean Shareski asked in his blog, When Will We Talk About Sports Gambling in Schools? He pointed out what feels obvious once you see it: gambling is no longer tucked away in casinos or shady corners of the internet. It has been woven directly into the sports culture that so many young people love. The Vancouver Sun recently echoed the same concern, noting that online betting is driving a new wave of youth addiction risk.
Educators don’t need another health and well-being issue to worry about. But this one is particularly tricky. Gambling doesn’t leave bottles in lockers or the smell of smoke on clothes. It is silent, digital and invisible, until it is not.
We can’t solve this alone, but we can’t ignore it either. If preparing students for the world they are growing up in means anything, it means naming the risks hiding in plain sight. Gambling isn’t just an “adult issue.” It is already in kids’ worlds, delivered through the games they play, the sports they watch, and the phones in their pockets.
The question is not if we should talk about it. The question is when. And perhaps the answer is sooner than we think, not as a crisis intervention, but as part of the conversations we are already having about digital citizenship, media literacy, and making informed choices in an increasingly complex world.
The image at the top of this post was generated through AI. Various AI tools were used as feedback helpers (for our students this post would be a Yellow assignment – see link to explanation chart) as I edited and refined my thinking.
