Every school has their issues. With Los Banos High School gambling has become a problem. 

As the 23-24 school year started, it has been happening all the time and the school is becoming much more strict. Lots of dice/cards have been getting confiscated by security and office workers.

 The new Learning director,  Mrs. Pam Snively is one of many office workers seeing the problem almost every day. 

Mrs. Snively was questioned on how she felt about the gambling and she stated, “I have not run into it as much as other admins but for me, I definitely feel like it has no place on campus. Nobody should be gambling for any reason on school grounds.” 

Gambling isn’t frowned upon by most on campus, but is a very big distraction on other students trying to pay attention in class.

Most students believe that “gambling” is not a big deal. An anonymous student who partakes in gambling stated, “It’s really not that big of a deal, and I feel like it doesn’t harm nobody when there are fights almost every day.”

When this statement was brought up to Mrs. Snively she stated, “When most students come into the office they say, ‘Oh it’s just a game’ or ‘We weren’t gambling it’s not a big deal’ and it seems like the students don’t even realize they’re doing it, and I don’t blame them. We are so surrounded by it in our day to day life and that’s a great reason why this school enforces the rule.” 

A follow up question was asked to Mrs. Snively on what does this “rule” state? She said, “Gambling in any shape or form is prohibited on school grounds. If any student is caught there will be consequences.”

She also stated, “Students caught for the first time will of course be sent to the office and the items used to gamble will be taken away also. The first officense is detention and if caught again a parent-teacher conference will be held and In school suspension.” As of now, the administration does not go out looking for students in the act, but they are prepared to handle the students and circumstances when the need arises. 

Snively was lastly questioned on the situation physically trying to catch students and cracking down on it fast and she said, “Gambling is a big problem don’t get me wrong, but there are lots of other things going on around school that we look out for and we treat it as if it’s the cops with drivers speeding over the limit. You’re not going to catch all of them even though they wish they could.” 

Gambling is just one of those things that will always be around in this new age. It’s surrounded by most and not frowned upon and expressed as easy money to most. People don’t know that it’s bad once it’s already too late. Up to 20 million Americans have gambling problems or are at risk. According to NCPgambling.org,  “Approximately 4-5% of youth, ages 12-17, meet one or more criteria of having a gambling problem. Another 10-14% are at risk of developing an addiction, which means that they already show signs of losing control over their gambling behavior.” With these types of problems at a young age for most, maybe it’s a good idea for school to show more urgency for the situation.

The best solution for all students would be to come to school to work and study and have fun doing constructive things.  Gambling is not for school.