Dylan Blalock should be sleeping. The harsh light from his laptop has been beaming off his face all night and begins to soften as the 5 a.m. sun slowly illuminates his room. Most college kids know this feeling from pulling all-nighters before finals or that last minute 10-page essay on the effects of globalization. But Blalock isn’t thinking about homework. Or his 9 a.m. art history class. He is planning his next move, anticipating which cards the online dealer from PokerRoom.com will give him. He knows he’ll be tired. And he knows he should just stop right now. But Blalock is in the throes of a gambling addiction.

Though it’s claimed that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, strip clubs, alcoholism and over-the-top gambling is just as readily available in San Francisco. What was often thought of as an older man’s hobby or addiction, depending on how you look at it, gambling has shuffled its way to our generation with no intention to fold.

Though popular, some think youth gambling is risky. Besides being highly addictive, our bank accounts can’t afford it. And most likely, a college student is in debt to begin with.

“(The marketing of youth gambling) fills their heads and passion with deceptive misinformation to lure them to the net of death, like helpless fish,” says Dr. Makram Samaan, a psychologist who specializes in life coaching but also deals with control disorders and addiction. Whether a problem or just a trend, more young adults are trying to cash in on the big cash out.

Chances are most college-aged kids have at least heard of the Texas Hold ‘Em craze, unless they’re the other half that only has time for studying.

Though it may be one of the most popular gambling games, the truly passionate will find any way possible to gamble. Hell, they’ll even gamble for tacos.

“(I’ll gamble) on anything I can get my hands on,” says Blalock, 21, who began playing flip coin (it’s as simple as it sounds) for tacos with his friends a few days before their big spring break vacation to Rosarito. He was up 40 tacos. But, in true gambling fashion, lost them all.

But flip coin for tacos isn’t his favorite. Lucky Chances, a popular casino in Colma, is where he prefers to get his fix. It’s a suitable second-best option for those having Vegas withdrawals. Complete with valet services, the entrance is decorated with emerald green marble flooring with gold veins, tons of mirrors and tropical plants. The palm trees and fountain outside give the same extravagant feel of sin city. The only draw-back: no slots. But the plethora of red-velvet poker tables, with food brought to your seat if you prefer, makes up for it. Blalock has various reasons for preferring Lucky Chances, and well educated ones at that. He learned how to play poker at age five, Texas Hold ‘Em at age eight.

Blalock and his friends aren’t a rare sight at the casino. A security guard and a shift manager, who both declined to be named, say they see a ton of twenty-something groups playing at the tables. But for the most part the crowd is pretty diverse.

While Lucky Chances sees its fair share of college-aged people, so does the Internet, with over 2,000 gambling sites. A huge portion of the growing trend among our generation occurs online, with sites such as PartyPoker.com. In 2005, eight million people gambled online in the United States alone.

To put that business a little more into perspective, Internet gambling revenue for 2005 was 11.9 billion, according to the American Gaming Association. And more people are buying in – that number is expected to double by 2010.

That is if it’s still legal. The American Gaming Association noted that there is a disagreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Courts on whether internet gambling is legal. For one, it violates the U.S. Wires Act of 1961 which prohibits gambling over the “wires.” There is also argument on the danger of having such easy access to gambling, while others contest poker is an American tradition, a classic.

But Blalock, who says he is “no doubt borderline addicted,” agrees there are pitfalls to online poker. Having a casino in your own home makes online poker almost too convenient.

“I would play while watching T.V., hanging with friends,” says Blalock. “(In online poker) there’s no dealers, no opponents, no time...everything’s so much faster.”

Blalock, who tried at one point to make a living gambling but couldn’t handle the stress, only plays a few times a week now. Pretty good compared to the average four hours a day he was logging in before.

But psychologists say the problem isn’t the plethora of internet gambling sites or addiction. It’s the media and marketing of gambling he says, noting the absence of commercials reporting the “overwhelming percentage of losers.”

The media is all over the problem of youth gambling and there are various educational programs and help methods to stop the gambling addiction. They aim to educate that gambling is just as addictive and destructive as drug and alcohol abuse.

However, Samaan says all this assigning of addiction and character flaw is blinding us from seeing what’s really wrong with our society.

“Quit talking about defects in character,” Samaan says. “But rather defects in schools, parenting and idolizing the dollar.”

But it’s hard not to idolize the dollar, especially when you can walk away from Lucky Chances with 700 of them, as Blalock has done before. Important to mention though, he has lost a considerable amount as well.

Congress sees Internet gambling as a problem and is trying to put a stop to it, or at least instill some regulation, regardless of age. Pending bills aim to put restrictions on oversees online gambling, which would affect some of the most popular online gambling sites.

On the bottom of the Party Poker page is a small sentence in light grey font that reads: “We are licensed and regulated by the Government of Gibraltar.” Don’t know where that is either? It’s in the United Kingdom territory in the south of Spain. A.k.a, overseas. A.k.a., regulated. But meanwhile, the growing number of online gamblers call Congress’ bluff and click for another draw.

And even if online poker becomes a dead card, true poker lovers won’t be out their fun.

“Online, you’re not playing against people,” says Blalock. “When you play with friends, it’s more about having fun.”

So maybe the future of online gambling is shaky. Blalock doesn’t mind much, since he prefers real-life casinos anyway. Poker and gambling thrived long before their cousins were born on the internet. And as long as it’s still legal to play flip coin for tacos (or even if it’s not) gambling among the younger generations most likely will thrive.

CONTACT GRASS AT JGRASS@SFSU.EDU