We, as a society, put Brendan Sorsby in harm’s way, no different than if we’d dropped a pile of coke in front of the Texas Tech quarterback and said, "Give it a try. No big deal."
We put phones in our kids’ pockets and backpacks to help keep them safe and now it’s easier for them to gamble than check out a library book. We’ve bombarded them with the message that gambling is harmless since before they knew what betting was.
We’ve obliterated that once-bright line between leagues and teams and the gaming industry, making them think that sports betting is all part of the fun. We’ve normalized an addictive behavior when their brains and impulse control are still developing.
We, the adults who are supposed to know better, let this happen. Signed off on it, even. And now that Sorsby and so many other young people like him are getting in too deep, we’re surprised or unsympathetic?
“Modern (gambling) is so much faster, more immersive, more accessible and more psychologically powerful. The fact somebody can bet on every single pitch in a baseball game, becomes so psychologically powerful," said Matt Missar, a licensed clinical social institute at The Better Institute who specializes in treating the impact of sports betting on youths and young adults. "Then you pair that up with brain development at that age, the reward sensitivity and sensation-seeking is at all-time high while the cognitive control part of their brain is still being developed.
