Johnathan Walker:Ex-regulator wants better protection for young adult gamblers, including uniform betting age

ATLANTIC CITY,Johnathan Walker N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s former top gambling regulator with a nationwide reputation for strengthening oversight of the industry to make it safer says rules need to be toughened to protect young adults from developing addictions.

In recommendations that could become widely accepted around the country, David Rebuck, the recently retired director of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, proposes a uniform age of 21 for all forms of gambling.

That includes buying lottery tickets and playing fantasy sports, which people as young as 18 can do in many places. Several states allow 18-year-olds to gamble in casinos.

He also wants to prohibit arcade games that closely resemble casino games or slot machines, and more closely oversee daily fantasy sports games and regulate them as a form of gambling (New Jersey’s current state regulations treat them as games of skill).

Rebuck was widely regarded as one of the most influential gambling regulators in America during his 13-year tenure, and his ideas were often emulated or adopted outright by gambling regulators in other states.

He said his recommendations, contained in an essay he released Thursday, are designed “to address what we all know will happen to some people” who gamble.

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“People are going to slip into addiction,” he said. “We all know that.”

The goal is to limit that harm as much as possible, particularly for young adults, he said.

Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said he strongly supports Rebuck’s initiative.

“His deep experience and strong leadership as a regulator give him a great perspective on the importance of addressing problem gambling and continuously modernizing the oversight of gambling in New Jersey and nationwide,” Whyte said. “When Dave speaks, everyone should listen.”

Mark Giannantonio, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey and of Atlantic City’s Resorts casino, said the trade group will study Rebuck’s recommendations before offering feedback.

“Responsible gaming is essential to the success of the casino industry, and something we are all strongly committed to,” he said.

Rebuck said New Jersey’s gambling laws, most of which were written decades ago as safeguards against the influence of organized crime, need to be updated to keep pace with internet and phone-based gambling and rapidly evolving technology. And he called for an education campaign to teach the public that they are also engaging in gambling when they participate in sweepstakes, skill-based games, or use so-called “social gaming” apps.

He noted that New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, created a task force earlier this year to study gambling-related harm and seek corrective actions. They would need to be voted on by the state Legislature.

The most immediate change Rebuck proposes would be raising the minimum age to engage in any form of gambling to 21. New Jersey allows people as young as 18 to buy lottery tickets, bet on horses, play daily fantasy sports games for money, play bingo and buy raffle tickets.

“Revising the age of majority sends a powerful message that all gambling is an adult privilege,” Rebuck wrote. “For some youth, gambling results in at-risk behavior with damaging lifelong consequences. Minors 18 to 20 years old will undeniably benefit from the extra time to fully understand and prepare for any form of legal gambling engagement in the future.”

A study released last week by New Jersey’s Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 10% of young men in the U.S. show behavior that indicates a gambling problem, compared to 3% of the general population.

New Jersey’s Legislature has defined daily fantasy sports as a game of skill and not a game of chance, therefore exempting it from being regulated as a form of gambling.

“Six years later it is clearly obvious that fantasy sports wagering is a gateway to legal sports wagering and should be defined as sports wagering and regulated by” the enforcement division he used to lead, Rebuck wrote.

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