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Gambling is big all around the world and especially in the United States. Due to these developments, more and more expert are worried about the negative consequences of this phenomenon. According to many gambling experts, the number one reason for the increasing amount of problem gamblers are online casinos due to their 24/7 availability.

More than 3 million teenagers come together at least once a week to play poker for money, in somebody's home or in online casinos. According to Annenberg Public Policy Center, this is double the amount of 2 years ago, a quite horrifying increase. In colleges and universities, playing poker in online casinos and school organized tournaments. A $1,000 buy-in for tournaments is common. The American dream has shift from becoming the Director of IBM, to being the next poker tournament winner.

Besides the online casinos, the television is the second largest drive for addictive gambling. There are many different TV shows were gambling is glamorized as a fun and innocent game, which persuades many to start their own gambling career in online casinos. The televised broadcasts of the World Series of Poker and Word Poker Tour make gamble fans even more enthusiastic. They see people who started in online casinos, win millions of dollars in tournaments and they make them their heroes. One of the latest young poker heroes is David Williams, who took home $3.5 million after ending up second in the World Series of Poker of 2004. In a moment of honesty, Williams admitted on television that many people don't realize that he is just lucky; there are millions of people just losing in online casinos. Williams won his seat in the tournament by wining one of the online casinos tournaments.

However, behind all the glitter and glamour of televised and online casinos gambling, their lies a serious problem called gambling addiction. Arnie Wexler, problem-gambling counselor at 888 LASTBET, states that a third of his calls are from kids that are hooked on poker in online casinos. He's been helping problem gamblers for already 37 years, and he is much afraid of the growing gambling craze, especially since the gamblers are getting younger all the time. Especially online casinos have a hard time keeping the under-18 away from their websites.  play online casino | online currency trading, forex | online sportsbook

Judge Mark Farrell from Amherst, New York, started the first American gambling court in 2002. Originally, the plan was to help adults with gambling problem, but recently most of the defendants are teenagers that are hooked on online casinos. One of their defendants is the 17 years old Mark, who started to steal from cars to finance his hobby: gambling in online casinos. After a night in jail, Mark finally understood how much gambling was ruining his life. According to Farrell, gambling is just as much a drug as any other.