I Think My Kid Is in Danger of Becoming a Gambling Hustler at School

I have a 16-year-old son, “Kevin.” Kevin plays on his school’s chess team, and he’s pretty serious about the game, to the point where he’s usually practicing some puzzle or going over a previous game during his free periods at school. That apparently attracted the notice of one of his school’s music teachers, “Mr. V,” who wanted to play … and then wanted to put money on the game.

Long story short, Kevin won five games in a row, netting a bit over $200 dollars from Mr. V by the time his free period ended, and he was very pleased with himself. Kevin got the next part of the story secondhand, and I’m getting it from him, so I’m not 100 percent sure what happened. But apparently, Mr. V is in some local, fly-on-the-wall band, and they were scheduled to perform a gig that evening after he was done with his work in the school. The money Kevin won from him was supposed to be their gas money to get to the venue, and he had just squandered it. There was apparently a huge fight in the school parking lot (Kevin isn’t sure if it got physical or not; there are apparently a lot of rumors flying around), but it was a definite disturbance, and Mr. V has since been suspended from his teaching duties and everyone is sure he’s getting the boot.

Kevin thinks the whole thing is kind of funny. I’m not amused. I’m not thrilled to find out he’s been gambling at all, especially against grown men. On the other hand, I’m not sure how to get to a message of “this is for your own protection” when things turned out great for him, and all the problems came to the person supposedly in the secure position of power. And on top of that, his lack of empathy for a man who clearly has some kind of gambling issue also concerns me. How do I get through to him?

—Gambling Concerns

https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/gambling-hustler-care-and-feeding.html