OLYMPIA -- Like the hype at Super Bowl season, the annual hoopla that surrounds the nation's college basketball championships can make this a difficult time for problem gamblers.

Newspapers carry headlines about oddsmakers' predictions, many business offices include pools on the outcome, and talk at school and at work can fixate on the matchups. A person recovering from a gambling addiction is literally surrounded by temptation to get back into gambling.

In short, enjoying the tournament without gambling is not a problem for most of us. But it's excruciating for those who have trouble drawing that line.

It's not a small problem. Estimates range from one to five percent of the population will wind up with a gambling problem. For young gamblers, it's even higher. An estimated one in seven youth who gamble will develop a serious gambling problem.

In fact, in the United States and Canada, as many as 15.3 million 12- to 17-year-olds have been gambling with or without adult awareness or approval, and 2.2 million of these are experiencing serious gambling-related problems.

During the 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey, seven percent of 8th and 10th graders said they gambled at least once a month during the past year; and three percent said their gambling has caused problems at home or with friends.

Washington State also has a Problem Gambling Helpline: 1-800-547-6133.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND BACKGROUND:

Jim Stevenson, Communications Director, HRSA, DSHS, 360-902-7604 (Pager: 360-971-4067).

DSHS does not discriminate and provides equal access to its programs and services for all persons without regard to race, color, gender, religion, creed, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, veteran's status or the presence of any physical, sensory or mental disability.