19-year-old Greg Hogan was playing his cello at the Zoellner Arts Center for the Lehigh University Philharmonic when police arrested him for the December 9 robbery of an Allentown bank. The accounting student later admitted to committing the crime in order to clear debts of $5000 incurred while playing at online casinos.

Greg Hogan’s case has given further weight to the argument that online gambling addiction is on the rise. Of particular concern to Edward Looney, director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, is the growing number of cases involving college students and minors. “Gambling on college campuses is epidemic, and Internet gambling is probably the fastest-growing type of campus gambling,” Looney says. “It’s verging on crisis, and really, we’re just getting started.”

A number of reasons are cited for the explosion in online gambling on college campuses. The universal popularity of online poker is one. PokerPulse.com estimates more than 1.8 million people are currently playing online poker, boosting industry revenues to $200 million each day. A second factor for the rise in gambling activity is the easy way in which online poker sites can be accessed via the internet. Anyone with a credit card can in theory partake in online gambling.

According to Looney, students are particularly susceptible as they usually indulge in higher levels of compulsive behavior and have lower than average incomes. Although Hogan lacks the typical profile of a suspect in a burglary, Looney says the student’s compulsive nature, privileged background and high level of intelligence make him particularly vulnerable to online gambling addiction.

Hogan’s case is hardly an isolated incident. According to the parent of a Lehigh University student, many participate in online gambling, with athletes bearing most of the pressure. “Greg Hogan’s debt is relatively small compared to some of these kids,” the anonymous source said.

A spokesperson for the university, Dina Silver, stated that the university has no evidence of gambling addiction on campus. “However we realize that student gambling is a major problem nationwide,” she said.

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