March Madness and March Awareness:
Who is your “bet” to win it all! What are the Odds?
Congratulations to the Maryland Terps Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams for their outstanding hard work and success!
Congratulations to Above All Odds – in the first year of being in the Big Ten and making it to the NCAA Tourney! Check out the new site here
The power of the turtle: Slow and Stead
Starting now, every possible social media device will be used to follow selection day March 15th through the Championship Game on April 6th. March Madness will consume everyone from the President of the United States to elementary school students in studying, picking and following their teams and the brackets. And the odds of picking the entire bracket correctly, well, a mere 1 in 9.2 quintillion (based on 2014 data). At that rate, what’s a few more quintillion among friends – this year! It is almost like…
+ Odds of finding a pearl in an oyster – 1 in 12,000
+ Odds of becoming a professional athlete -1 in 22,000
+ Odds of dating a supermodel – 1 in 88,000
+ Odds of becoming a billionaire – 1 in 7,000,000
+ Odds of becoming President of the U.S. –1 in 10,000,000
Or as people like to say: “Well, someone has to win, why not me?”
March is the best month to Have the Conversation about wagering, betting, gambling, tourney pools and fantasy sports leagues. While gambling can be an entertaining pastime, for some it can quickly become an overwhelming and consuming disorder. Conservative estimates of Maryland Adult problem gamblers: 150,000. Conservative estimates of Maryland adolescent (12-17yrs) problem gamblers: 50,000;
College students have a 6.5% prevalence rate for problem gambling.
+ Behaviors of a problem with gambling might include:
+ Continues betting to recover loses
+ Borrows money to pay for gambling debts and gambling loans
+ Get irritable when not gambling
How are College students thinking and talking about Gambling?
+ Young adult problem gamblers (18-25) LOSE an average of $30,000 per year
+ What would you do if you WON $30,000 gambling?
+ Hear what young adults have to say about gambling and what they would do if they won $30,000. Go to: #MY30K
Go to: www.aboveallodds.org “What’s Your Limit? Above All Odds”.
March is National Problem Gambling Awareness Month. It is not by chance that the National Council on Problem Gambling choses March as the month of awareness to the issue of problem gambling and gambling addiction. This year’s theme is: Have the Conversation. An estimated 60 Million Americans filled out their NCAA brackets last year. According to Las Vegas odds makers about $12 Billion was wagered on the March Madness tournament in 2014.
The Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling at the University of Maryland offers Confidential resources to anyone who is interested in helping a friend or themselves.
Carl E. Robertson, M.R.E., M.Div. is the Prevention Manager at the Center and regularly addresses students, colleges and faculties about the challenges of gambling in our society today and its public health impact. For instance: for every problem gambler, there are 8-9 people who are negatively impacted by their gambling: spouses, children, peers, faculty and significant others.
