AZers thoughts on teens gambling...

barrett9ball

barrett9ball

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'd just like to get some feedback from the AZ crowd. We have a couple of young guys at our room. One plays outstanding and the other you might say plays good for his age. Both are 14. The better of the two does not gamble and has constant eyes on him to make sure of it. The one who doesn't play as well is not supposed to be gambling but has recently decided to gamble with the older guys with money he and his family can't afford to lose. Do you think I was right in letting his Mom know this? Her and her husband are close friends and the boy was just making an ass of himself.

I love pool and I love to watch action games as much as the next person but I just really think that a player needs to reach a certainly level of maturity before getting in action.
 
Kids playing pool

barrett9ball said:
I'd just like to get some feedback from the AZ crowd. We have a couple of young guys at our room. One plays outstanding and the other you might say plays good for his age. Both are 14. The better of the two does not gamble and has constant eyes on him to make sure of it. The one who doesn't play as well is not supposed to be gambling but has recently decided to gamble with the older guys with money he and his family can't afford to lose. Do you think I was right in letting his Mom know this? Her and her husband are close friends and the boy was just making an ass of himself.

I love pool and I love to watch action games as much as the next person but I just really think that a player needs to reach a certainly level of maturity before getting in action.
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I don't think you were wrong at all. If the kid is losing money that his family needs than you were absolutely right in telling them. I am just wondering what the kid is doing with the money the family needs and what adults in the pool room would play a 14 yr old unless he had a great game. I think you are ready to gamble when you can runa couple ghost racks. NOt in a row, just if you play the ghost 10 times you should beat the ghost at least 2-3 times. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. You did the right thing. We have some kids like that in our local pool hall and the regulars make sure that they don't play for money. I probably would have let him keep playing until his parents found out. But that's my spineless self talking. You did the right thing. And I believe that the fellow az'ers would agree.
 
I think you did the right thing. If its money he cant really lose, then he shouldnt be gambling it away. Since hes 14, he might not know if his family needs the money. I dont gamble often, i just dont like it. If i gamble, itll usually only be for a few dollars with friends, simply because thats all i can afford to lose now.
 
can an adult allowing an underaged player to gamble, say aweekly poker game,,,be sued/arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor?
 
As a boy,i know that my parents are working hard to give me money,so that i can live happily.

Like all parents,they will be angry if their child use the money to gamble instead of just spending it on good things.If they want to gamble,then just wait till they are working and have their own money,by then they will feel the pain on how to lose their money after working so hard to get it,that is just the same way on how our parents feel when we take their money away,and gamble it.

I will encourage this youngsters,not to spend their parents money on gambling.

Thank You
 
Personally, what i would do is take all this kids money gambling and then tell his parents how he lost the $$$$

Also, If this kid has money that the parents need and he is only 14, why does he have this money anyways? And if this family is in such dire needs, that they hafta rely on money from thier 14yr old, i think this family has more problems than what is being noted, and the parents need to do something about it.
 
Think when a Kid is 18 they are considered by many States Adults, and of Legal Age to enter into Contract. Gambling is a Contract.

Nevada you got to be 21 to Drink, or Casino Gamble...
 
Playing the devil's advocate here, I believe there are some people who have no self-restraint when they are in the gambling mode. Me personally, I can go to Atlantic City for a weekend with 300 bucks, and if I lose, then that's it. There are others who can't stop, and what is ironic with the disease of gambling is that the more they win, the higher they bet, ultimately resulting in them getting broke.

Years ago, I went to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting with a friend who thought he needed to go. He owed every bookie in town, hit rock bottom not being able to pay off his debts, and he was trying to face the reality that he may have a problem. Most of the attendees were older gentleman, and I was the only female (LOL). One thing I took away from the GA meeting was that gambling did pose a problem to some folk, just like cigarette smoking, substance abuse, alcoholism, overeating, et cetera. It is a compulsion which ruins lives.

In sum, if I knew a 14-year-old youngster who was exhibiting characteristics of a compulsive gambler, engaging in games of stake he has no business in, I would feel compelled to talk to his parents if they were friends of mine.

Gambling is an addiction for some, and for others, it can be recreational. Full-time gamblers are a rare breed, and IMHO, the only ones I see making any money at it on a full-time basis are the bookmakers and casinos, not the little guy. :D

JAM
 
JAM said:
In sum, if I knew a 14-year-old youngster who was exhibiting characteristics of a compulsive gambler, engaging in games of stake he has no business in, I would feel compelled to talk to his parents if they were friends of mine.

Gambling is an addiction for some, and for others, it can be recreational. Full-time gamblers are a rare breed, and IMHO, the only ones I see making any money at it on a full-time basis are the bookmakers and casinos, not the little guy. :D

JAM
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Another problem with Gambling with a Child is when the Child looses, goes home, comes back with Pops & the Fuzz. Think you will be the Real Looser. :mad:
 
Even if the youngster happens to be a world champion I will refuse to gamble with him.One time,after the game, when I realized the guy was only 17 years old I returned his money( I beat him playing 9 Ball).
I do not like to have sex with 17 year old and will not gamble with a seventeen and beow.I will wait for them to turn 18.
Vagabond
 
Ok, I know I am new here, but will respond anyway.

I started playing pool when I was 14. (I say playing pool because that was it was then, not shooting pool, which in my mind is a different thing)

I had my first job at a local pool hall, basicly running it during the day, free play, and such.

Like any other teen, who thinks he is the best in the world, I was cocky, plus a fairly good shot. So I would gamble. Overall I was ok. I only spent my own money, and therefor was my own loss, and yes there were many many times i had a very LONG week without much money to play with.

Now looking back on it, It was my lack of maturaty that keep me gambling. As I grew both physically and mentally, I begin to understand what gambling was to me. It wasn't and isnt about the money, but more of a way of raising the bar higher. I very very, rarely gamble anymore as It now takes more away fromt the game then it gives me back.

I would have to say, that if he is only using his own money from either allowance or whatever, then his loss, but as adults they should not gamble with him, as they should be at a stage in their life to understand he really doesn't understand what he is doing. Personaly I would rather try to teach him more about the art of pool and hope he gains a better apprecation for the game.

But then again, thats just me...

Dennis
 
I guess now that i think about it, if i knew the kids parents i would probably tell them what is going on after i take his money, and then return his money, considering he probably needs the money a little bit more than i do.

I mean i do have a heart lol. I remember readying about Danny B. about how he would hustle thousands of dollars off a guy, yet take the guy out to clubs n stuff afterwards.


dave
 
barrett9ball said:
I'd just like to get some feedback from the AZ crowd. We have a couple of young guys at our room. One plays outstanding and the other you might say plays good for his age. Both are 14. The better of the two does not gamble and has constant eyes on him to make sure of it. The one who doesn't play as well is not supposed to be gambling but has recently decided to gamble with the older guys with money he and his family can't afford to lose. Do you think I was right in letting his Mom know this? Her and her husband are close friends and the boy was just making an ass of himself.

I love pool and I love to watch action games as much as the next person but I just really think that a player needs to reach a certainly level of maturity before getting in action.
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I know both of whom you are talking about. Walt keeps a real eye out for the better shooter and the other shooter only recently started gambling to improve his game (he thinks). I think it is a really wrong move for either of them right now. Both have a lot of promise if they can keep things in check for a while.

As for young teens gambling (or anyone compulsively doing so) in the words of Sgt Alvin York, "I'm agin it!!"
 
To the OP,

Mind your own business.

Part of growing up is learning from your mistakes. If you loose more than you can afford, then guess what... you learned a lesson.

Life isn't free, earn your way.

Life is easier, if you learn.
 
his choice, if he gets in some shat, he'll pay the punishment, im 16 and ill gamble every so often with my buddies but rarely.
 
barrett9ball said:
I'd just like to get some feedback from the AZ crowd. We have a couple of young guys at our room. One plays outstanding and the other you might say plays good for his age. Both are 14. The better of the two does not gamble and has constant eyes on him to make sure of it. The one who doesn't play as well is not supposed to be gambling but has recently decided to gamble with the older guys with money he and his family can't afford to lose. Do you think I was right in letting his Mom know this? Her and her husband are close friends and the boy was just making an ass of himself.

I love pool and I love to watch action games as much as the next person but I just really think that a player needs to reach a certainly level of maturity before getting in action.
Click to expand...

You absolutely, positively did the right thing here.
 
Nothing was ever mentioned about how much money the kid was gambling.

I know...I know...the response will be that it doesn't matter. He shouldn't be involved in it for any money.

In my case, I was gambling around 14 or 15 but it wasn't for big money nor was it daddy's. It was what I could afford. From age 11 I always earned my own money with jobs like a paper route, shoveling snow, and at 14 I still had the paper route and caddied at a private golf course. I gambled MY money, but never until I was busted. There was always more in my pocket for a rainy day and another time.

Money didn't come easily to my family either, and if I was getting an allowance and gambling that money I think it would have been right to have someone tell my parents to teach me the value of money and other lessons.
 
Well, i think you did the right thing. From experience when i began playing at age 16. Just so happened the owner of the poolroom was a bookie and there was alot of gambling going on,and me at age 16 wanting to be just like them. They were my family at the time because we were also poor and my parents were divorced. I stayed with my mom but she was never home she was working 3 jobs and we lived in a trailer nearby the poolroom. I walked everyday to the poolroom thinking i could make some money this way.Of course i won a little cash and i was hooked, i stole money from people just so i could gamble. I was like a crackhead towards gambling. I wished things were different. I think you should take the kid under your wing and teach him how to do things the right way. This is what i do alot with kids that are wanting to play pool and gamble. Well good luck!! :D
 
I started playing at 14, but at 16 I was gambling quite a bit. It was my own money and I could do with it as I pleased.

Honestly, I think you did the right thing.
 
drivermaker said:
Nothing was ever mentioned about how much money the kid was gambling.

I know...I know...the response will be that it doesn't matter. He shouldn't be involved in it for any money.

In my case, I was gambling around 14 or 15 but it wasn't for big money nor was it daddy's. It was what I could afford. From age 11 I always earned my own money with jobs like a paper route, shoveling snow, and at 14 I still had the paper route and caddied at a private golf course. I gambled MY money, but never until I was busted. There was always more in my pocket for a rainy day and another time.

Money didn't come easily to my family either, and if I was getting an allowance and gambling that money I think it would have been right to have someone tell my parents to teach me the value of money and other lessons.
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Welcome back DM. Let me clarify a couple things. The amount of $ wasn't very much at all. Like you have already mentioned I only wanted to discuss the principle of it and not the amount. Also, the family is not poor and living in the streets. However, like most of us every little bit of $ helps a little.

DM it sounds like you gambled smart even as a kid and thats good but not all kids are that savy. I'm sure you'll agree with that. I'll bet you didn't make many bad games either. This kid was giving the 8 and the breaks the one time I actually watched. He didn't win alot or get busted either. No one was hurt. I'm honestly not sure where his money comes from but I know the kid doesn't have a job of any kind. I know that if my old man would have caught me gambling at 13 or 14 it wouldn't have mattered if it were my money or not. I would have been in BIG trouble.
 
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