- “What’s Actually at Stake?” is a marketing campaign in Pennsylvania to curb underage playing
- The PSA comes from the Pennsylvania Gaming Management Board
- March is Downside Playing Consciousness Month
Playing in Pennsylvania is extra prevalent than ever earlier than, with participant losses reaching virtually $6.8 billion in 2025. With fixed adverts for sports activities betting and casinos persevering with to broaden throughout the commonwealth, the state company tasked with regulating the rising market is taking preemptive motion to restrict underage entry and related harms.
A inventory {photograph} exhibits a teenage lady inside a on line casino with slot machines within the background. The Pennsylvania Gaming Management Board has unveiled a marketing campaign aimed toward elevating consciousness of the hazards of underage playing. (Picture: Shutterstock)
This week, the Pennsylvania Gaming Management Board (PGCB) debuted a brand new marketing campaign referred to as “What’s Actually at Stake?” The initiative has the tagline, “Underage playing will value you.”
The PGCB says the marketing campaign will make the most of social media posts, on-line adverts, and a devoted web site (WhatsReallyatStake.com) to intensify consciousness of the problematic subject of underage playing.
The legalized playing the PGCB regulates, and particularly on-line playing, is meant for these 21 years and older. The licensed operators in Pennsylvania have numerous instruments inside their programs to disclaim playing privileges to these underage, however the proliferation of simply accessible unlawful and unregulated websites that don’t carry these protections to dam underagers is a considerable purpose in creating this unfavorable state of affairs,” mentioned Kevin O’Toole, the chair of the PGCB.
O’Toole is referencing offshore on line casino web sites which can be unlawful and unregulated. Pennsylvanians additionally largely nonetheless have entry to controversial sweepstakes casinos that declare to be social gaming, however their inclusion of a dual-currency association has been criticized to represent unlawful on-line playing.
Pennsylvania moreover has an issue with unregulated ability video games, that are marketed as 18+. In contrast to casinos, ability recreation places, akin to eating places, grocery shops, and nook shops, don’t have sufficient safety to make sure that an individual too younger to play doesn’t entry the terminals.
Underage Play Poses Many Dangers
Accountable gaming specialists have lengthy warned that permitting an underage particular person to gamble poses quite a few dangers.
Josh Ercole, the manager director of the Council on Compulsive Playing of PA, is supporting the PGCB’s “What’s Actually at Stake?” marketing campaign. In December, Ercole testified earlier than the state’s Home Gaming Oversight Committee that on-line prediction markets, that are 18+ and facilitate the buying and selling of shares involving sports activities occasion outcomes, have led to a extreme enhance within the variety of calls to the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline from 18 to 24-year-olds.
“Lately, calls to the helpline concerning younger people in Pennsylvania have elevated,” Ercole mentioned within the PGCB launch. “With a lot entry and availability, particularly in unregulated types of playing, it’s vital to have open discussions about dangers and potential harms. Additionally it is necessary to know that whereas underage people taking part in video games like these could appear harmless, early publicity and participation can result in future issues.”
March marks the Nationwide Council on Downside Playing’s annual Downside Playing Consciousness Month. The nationwide nonprofit experiences that almost two-thirds of adults aged 21 and up (65%) take part in not less than one type of playing earlier than turning 21.
“Youth are at considerably better threat for growing playing issues, and as playing turns into more and more normalized in media, sports activities, and on-line areas, the dangers develop,” mentioned Heather Maurer, the manager director of NCPG. “Prevention and schooling are important to make sure younger individuals, households, educators, and policymakers perceive the potential harms and are shielded from early publicity.”
Lottery Irony
Whereas the consensus amongst psychological well being specialists and accountable gaming advocates is that youngsters shouldn’t be uncovered to playing till not less than 21, it’s a tad ironic that the Pennsylvania Lottery and most different state-run lotteries are 18+.
The age of 18 has lengthy been the brink for the definition of an grownup, however since casinos typically embody alcohol, the minimal liquor age has taken priority. New types of on line casino playing, like sports activities betting, have subsequently adopted the 21+ rule.
