Gambling and sports betting by teenagers.

This study presents research on the opinions and behaviours towards gambling and sports betting of 150 high school students and on the formative cycle in animation and physical sports activities (hereinafter: TAFAD) at the public educational centre in the city of Valencia (Spain). The results show that there are 50% of adolescent men and less than 20% of adolescent women who bet or have bet. However, it was determined that 15% of men bet more money than expected; 5.6% of men used money that was not theirs to gamble; in addition, 6.7% of men and 3.3% of women borrowed money to gamble. A total of 13.5% of men and 3.3% of women stated that they had arguments about betting with relatives and/or friends. Finally, it was determined that 46% of men and 39.3% of womenbelieved that betting was a problem in their life; 6.7% of men believed that they needed professional help, and none of woman believed that they needed professional help. TAFAD students are the largest bettinggroup, followed by third- and fourth-year secondary education students in the case of gambling, followed by the first-year of secondary education students in the case of sports betting. A total of 47% of men,who do sports, gamble, compared to 30.3% of those who do not do sports. However, with respect to sports betting, of those who do sports, 47% bet, compared to 38.5% of those who do not do sports. Finally, it was determined that gender and the course of study affect the bettingbehaviour. However, the results for individuals whodo sports differ from the results of those who do not do sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]