WOODBURY – “Yeah, all I need is a Porzingis rebound and I cash out.”
In recent years, gambling, specifically sports gambling has affected people, students and younger adults. With March Madness set to be in full swing this week, the dangers–even for young people–are omnipresent.
“I stay away from it,” said Maxton Nichols, a junior at Nonnewaug and diehard basketball player and fan. “I think it’s very time consuming and I am a Knicks fan, and I don’t want to root against them. I enjoy basketball, not betting on basketball.”
According to a survey from the Harvard Gazette, “43 percent of U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society. That’s up from 34 percent in 2022.”
Another problem with sports betting in Connecticut is that you must be 21 to gamble legally, unlike in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Many disagree with the rule of being 21, including junior Kevin Haven.
“I don’t look at it as a problem,” Haven said. “I have family members who do it all the time, like on Thanksgiving, that’s all they talk about. But I get why they talk about it, it makes the game more exciting, keeps viewership up, it could be a blowout but still waiting for that last reception can keep you on your toes.”
Haven highlights an alternative to prevent youth gambling.
“I think they should make an under 21 betting site,” Haven noted. “It is illegal to bet when under 21 so I think allowing kids to place bets with fake money would be fun for them and prepare them for the future.”
In Connecticut, a couple restrictions that include requiring users to be 21, location must be verified, it is prohibited to be on in-state college teams such as UConn and Quinnipiac and also not allowed to bet on college players across the country.
NHS science teacher Joshua Kornblut understands the complexities of sports betting in the state of Connecticut.
“I don’t do it often, but I have in the past,” Kornblut said. “I don’t think it is a good habit for teens to get into because gambling can be a slippery slope and it is addictive and can cause a ton of issues. Especially online, you don’t realize how much you are spending when it’s on a card, unlike cash.
Kornblut appreciates the sports betting props that add excitement to the game.
“My friends and I would always get together for the Super Bowl,” Kornblut said. “We would all bet money on the national anthem and the coin toss, we would do an over under on how long the anthem would be, and then with what color Gatorade it would be.”
Sports betting has also gotten people in trouble, including players like Hedake Smith of Arizona State, Jontay Porter of the Toronto Raptors, and, most recently, the Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz scandal.
During the 2025 MLB Season, Cleveland Guardians star closer Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were accused of rigging pitch outcomes, including whether it would be a ball or strike and how fast it would be. Clase and Ortiz were accused of upwards of $450,000 in bets and are currently awaiting trial.
For fans like Kornblut, he’s happy to see proper justice served on players who manipulate their performance for cash.
“I think they handled the Clase situation well,” Kornblut noted. “What he did has no place in sports. He wasn’t performing his best, which is bad itself, but he was deliberately throwing bad pitches.”
