Shannon Shorr is a student majoring in business at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is also one of the best young players on the no-limit hold’em tournament circuit, with over US$3.3 million in career earnings. After his school ran a public awareness campaign about university students and problem gambling, he said that he recognized the signs of compulsive gambling in many of his classmates.

Shannon Shorr is a student majoring in business at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He is also one of the best young players on the no-limit hold’em tournament circuit, with over US$3.3 million in career earnings. After his school ran a public awareness campaign about university students and problem gambling, he said that he recognized the signs of compulsive gambling in many of his classmates.

Mr. Shorr also saw some of the signs of addiction in himself when he first started playing as a college freshman. He would spend almost forty hours a week playing online poker and lost thousands of dollars before he backed off, studied the game, and went on to his current successful run. He understands how college students, with lots of pressure and little money, can be lured into such compulsive behavior.

With the growth in land-based casinos, state lotteries, and online gaming, many students are tempted by the idea of ignoring the schoolbooks in favor of quick cash at the blackjack table, the online slot machine or the local bookie. A new task force formed by the National Center for Responsible Gaming has compiled a list of recommendations for college officials to stem the rising tide of illicit gambling on their campuses.

The Task Force on College Gambling Policies was formed last year in cooperation with the Cambridge Health Alliance, a department of the world-famous Harvard Medical School. According to one report, up to half of American university students have placed a bet and more than ten percent show signs of compulsive gambling. Moreover, unlike drug and alcohol addictions, schools are not providing adequate support to students who are gambling addicts.

Another reason that students with gambling addictions do not get the help they need is that compulsive gambling often does not carry many of the physical scars that frequently accompany drug and alcohol abuse. A major effort of this new task force is to help addicts and their peers recognize the signs of a gambling addiction. An aggressive program is already underway in Missouri to educate students about such dangers