Joseph Garrison, one of the youths who staged cyber fraud involving DraftKings Sportsbook accounts in 2022, has pleaded guilty, accepting an 18-month prison sentence.

The 19-year-old was involved in a credential surfing attack. Along with other conspirators Garrison exploited system vulnerabilities to steal $600,000 from DraftKings users whose credentials had been stolen in other data breaches.

In total, over 1,600 sports betting accounts were affected. Garrison allegedly bragged to friends about the cyberattack, telling them that “fraud is fun.”

The cyberattack not only hurt many victims but also undermined confidence in DraftKings’ ability to protect its customers. As a result, the young man had to receive a sentence that reflected the caliber of the crime. According to attorney Damian Williams, “The sentencing underscores the urgent need for vigilance and the critical importance of our collective efforts in combating cyber threats and safeguarding digital integrity.”

Garrison Will Spend 3 Years on Supervised Release

As mentioned, Garrison is set to serve 18 months in prison. Following that, he will spend three years on supervised release.

In addition to his time in prison, Garrison will have to pay $1.3 million in restitution and $175,000 in forfeiture.

The DraftKings incident, however, is not the only time Garrison has been involved in legal trouble. The young man currently has a legal matter in Wisconsin where he allegedly used Bitcoin to pay another party that would call in several bomb threats to his school.

Two of Garrison’s Co-Conspirators Were Arraigned

In the meantime, Nathan Austad and Kamerin Stokes, two of Garrison’s alleged conspirators, were just arrested and arraigned. The latter allegedly paid Garrison to gain access to DraftKings Sportsbook accounts and then re-sold them online.

Austad, on the other hand, leveraged artificial intelligence to promote a shop of stolen user accounts. In addition to that, he allegedly managed cryptocurrency wallets that received approximately $465,000 in proceeds from credential-stuffing attacks and the sale of compromised data.

As a result of their alleged participation in the conspiracy, the two youths risk up to 20 years in prison.

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Meredith Whitney, an American businesswoman known as “The Oracle of Wall Street,” commented on some of the latest trends in America and the “meteoric growth” of sports betting. Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street panel, Whitney described sports betting as one of the main drivers of leisure revenue.

Whitney said that she has always been extremely interested in consumer data because it has a huge impact on housing and the economy. She would check consumer data monthly, making sure that she was keeping up with the latest trends.

A few weeks ago, Whitney noticed that the fastest-growing verticals in the entertainment sector are fantasy sports and online sports betting. This piqued her curiosity, causing her to evaluate more consumer data. While sports betting was legalized outside of Nevada only five years ago, now 29 states plus the District of Columbia offer wagering on sporting events.

However, the growth of sports betting has had some negative impacts on the American youth as well.

Sports Betting Is Affecting Household Formation Rates

Whitney pointed out that many sports bettors are young men. She paired this statistic with other statistics, such as the fact that 63% of young men in the USA are single – the highest number ever recorded. In addition, she said, 50% have no interest in dating whatsoever.

Thirty percent of young men said they have not had sex in over a year and don’t seem to care.

Meredith Whitney

Whitney implied that the growth of the entertainment sector, including sports betting, has been providing sufficient pleasure to young men, making them disinterested in dating.

Whitney also pointed out that many young men have grown up with smartphones. As a result, online sports betting has a very strong appeal to such consumers, providing them with hours of fun at the tips of their fingers.

The Oracle of Wall Street expects sports betting revenues to skyrocket if California and Texas legalize sports betting, providing the industry with an explosive boost. However, she also addressed another matter which is the effect of sports betting on housing.

Whitney said that America is experiencing the lowest household formation rates in over sixty years.

So, you have young men who don’t want to date, and young women who are spending their time really with Instagram moments, going to Taylor Swift concerts.

Meredith Whitney

As a result, 74% of the housing stock is owned by people over 50 and 90% of the housing stock is owned by people over 40. Whitney concluded: “So, when these people wanna sell, which I believe they would start to sell with a vengeance next year, who are the buyers gonna be?”

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A recent study by The British Medical Journal (BMJ) highlights the dangers social media presents to young people’s health. This, according to the experts, includes higher chances of participation in gambling and, by extension, higher risks of gambling harm.

Dubbed Social media use and health risk behaviors in young people: systematic review and meta-analysis, the study evaluates potential links between the use of social media and addictive tendencies. Primarily focused on people from 10 to 19, the study sought to understand how social media affects young and vulnerable audiences.

The BMJ linked the daily use of social media to the use of alcohol consumption, drug use, tobacco use, anti-social behavior, multiple risk behaviors and gambling. The study also found out that content showcasing health risk behaviors led to increased odds of use of electronic nicotine delivery systems, unhealthy dietary behaviors and alcohol consumption.

According to The BMJ’s findings, the daily use of social media increased young people’s odds of gambling by a whopping 200% compared to those who use social media infrequently. While the overall youth gambling in the UK is declining, the findings are a step toward further understanding of how to prevent it.

The BMJ experts concluded that the regular use of social media is associated with adverse health risk behaviors among young people. However, the study added that further research would be needed to better understand these links.

For reference, the study saw The BMJ evaluate over 126 previous surveys conducted between 1997 and 2022, involving millions of adolescents.

Another Survey Shows Youth Gambling Is on the Decline

As mentioned, the UKGC recently conducted another, more gambling-oriented study on younger people. Titled Young People and Gambling Survey for 2023, it probed into audiences aged 11 to 17 and learned that youth gambling is actually on the decline.

The study engaged 3,453 online participants across the United Kingdom and recorded a decrease of 5%. The encouraging results attested to the efficiency of the UKGC’s latest efforts to protect younger Brits.

For reference, some of the commission’s recent initiatives led to a 10% decrease in exposure to gambling advertisements among 11-17-year-olds.

The survey identified only 0.7% of young players as problem gamblers. It also identified 1.5% of respondents as at-risk players and 23% as non-problem gamblers. In the meantime, 74% of the young people had not taken part in gambling over the past year.

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Gambling addiction in the United States is getting more and more serious as calls to get the situation under control grow louder. The Guardian spoke with experts who highlighted America’s concerns about the young people exposed to harm.

Gambling organizations across the US have noticed a concerning number of teen and young adult patients seeking help.

New Jersey, which has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to gambling, is currently dealing with an influx of harmed young patients. According to the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, the number of requests for support has more than doubled since 2018. This was also echoed by UCLA, which has been evaluating the trend.

Many believe that the convenience mobile gambling provides has made it very appealing to young people Brad Ruderman, of the Beit T’Shuvah treatment center in Los Angeles noted that this would be the first generation to grow with mobile gambling.

Keith Whyte, the National Council on Problem Gambling’s executive director, asked a room of 40 17-year-old boys in Virginia how many had sports betting apps on their phones. Thirty-six boys admitted to having one, further supporting T’Shuvah’s claim.

Experts believe that young people, whose brains are still developing, might be much more susceptible to gambling’s tricks of attracting customers.

Arnie Wexler, a counselor, fears that America might be “killing its youth.”

The Situation Is Bad But Not Hopeless

Rick Benson, the founder of the Algamus treatment facility in Goodyear, Arizona, believes that America might be headed into a “gambling addiction quagmire if not crisis.” He said that the nonstop betting opportunities provided by the local mobile operators are simply too convenient.

Another aspect is peer and commercial pressure, Shekhar Saxena, ex-director at the WHO, believes. He pointed out that younger people easily influence one another, exacerbating the problem.

For reference, in 2018 only 11.5% of the people who contacted New Jersey’s gambling support services admitted they were under 25. During the first 10 months of 2023, this number had increased to 19.6%.

Luckily, the younger generation is more likely to seek help, according to UCLA’s co-director of the gambling studies program, Timothy Fong. The stigma among them is not so serious suggesting that there might be hope for solving the issue.

The Guardian also spoke with Amanda Blackford, director of operations and problem gambling services at the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Commenting on the rising harm rates that followed the recent legalization of sports betting, Blackford said that problem gambling will always exist, so it is important to help as many people as possible.

Many Believe Tougher Regulations Are Needed

In the meantime, calls to better regulate the sports betting sector have increased. While many states now offer gambling, some believe that few of them are sufficiently engaged in the protection of customers.

Felicia Grondin, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling, is one of the many supporters of restrictions on gambling ads. Ads are already talked about a lot in other modern markets as many believe that exposure leads to more harm.

WHO’s Saxena, on the other hand, said that operators themselves should not exploit their consumers’ vulnerabilities. Saxena thinks that allowing the customers to choose how often and how much to wager is not enough.

The industry, however, argues that an overwhelming majority of consumers wager safely. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), legal operators offer a number of important safeguards to keep players safe.

Overregulation, on the other hand, risks channeling people toward the black market, which offers few, if any, of these safety measures. The AGA urged for further research before proceeding with overregulation.

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The English Gambling Education Hub (EGEH), published its first Insights Report in the wake of its first networking event dedicated to the dangers of gambling harm to young people. The original event was held in March and attracted many experts in the fields of health, education, voluntary local authority.

The hub, which encompasses GambleAware-funded organizations, such as ARA, Aquarius, Beacon Counselling Trust, Breakeven, GamCare, NECA and YGAM vowed to continue protecting the youth from harm.

During the networking event, the experts discussed how gambling harm affects young people. The EGEH members assessed the risks and confirmed that they are committed to raising awareness about the problem.

The event, furthermore, helped to introduce the EGEH and highlight the importance of collaboration to the provision of efficient educational materials to the public.

The EGEH Identified Four Main Points

The EGEH believes that tackling the issue is of extreme importance since a recent UKGC study demonstrated that a concerning 0.9% of the people aged 11 to 16 engage in problem gambling. The bad news did not stop there as the commission also noted that an additional 2.4% are at-risk customers.

During the inaugural networking event, the experts identified four main points that can contribute to solving the problem.

First of all, young people are more likely to respond to initiatives developed by other young people. As a result, collaboration with the youth will be crucial to the success of educational programs.

Furthermore, the experts agreed that gambling harms can be caused or exacerbated by other issues. As a result, organizations would need to find links between problem gambling and other risky behaviors.

In addition, safer gambling organizations should work together rather than compete with one another. By sharing resources and experience, experts can be far more efficient.

Lastly, organizations need to be mindful of the diverse communities that can experience harm and try to understand the inherent differences and similarities between them. Efficiently connecting with various groups is at the heart of EGEH’s mission.

The hub will continue its efforts to provide free and reliable educational materials for problem gambling, helping people across the UK get their habits under control. The EGEH members will, in the meantime, continue exploring ways to connect with young people and protect them from harm.

The hub will continue working with other organizations in the sector to make sure that progress is being made.

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A new program launched by the NCPG is now focusing entirely on Hispanic youths in the hopes of educating them about the pitfalls of gambling and the dangers of excessive gambling in Cleveland, Ohio.

NCPG Keen on Helping Vulnerable Groups to Beat Problem Gambling

The intuitive has been launched with the Hispanic Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program which was awarded $40,000 to help better educate the target group about the dangers of problem gambling.

The program will seek to educate 100 Hispanic students in middle and high school as part of comprehensive prevention efforts about gambling disorders. The program explained stated its goal thus:

The program aims to raise awareness to the dangers of at risk and problem-gambling behaviors with Middle and High School youth, these youth can then relate this to their peers and their families via 1-1 conversations, social media, print, posters, and other created media.

Hispanic Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program

To have maximum impact, the program will operate as a bilingual initiative that will allow it to better connect with the target groups. The program is an important stepping stone in addressing problem gambling and gambling-related harm in Ohio. The state sees that 15% of Hispanic males aged 18-24 are at risk of developing a gambling disorder.

Addressing problem gambling with minorities has been a priority for many organizations engaged with furthering the understanding and advocating for safe and responsible gambling practices.

In places such as the United Kingdom, there has been research indicating that minorities tend to suffer from gambling disproportionately even though they make up a much smaller part of the people who participate in gambling as a whole.

The NCPG has been very active across different communities and is determined to bring the best possible campaigns and awareness initiatives to geographies and communities that may be impacted by various gambling-related problems.

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