Amanda asked Chief Lyons to talk about his experiences with problem gamblers during his years as a police officer. Lyons said, "As a detective, I met a lot of people who had gambling problems. For some it led to stealing money from friends or embezzling money at work to pay off gambling debts." Lyons went on to say that many of his parents' friends--who are senior citizens-- probably gamble too much.

Asked what he would tell kids about gambling, Lyons said: "Remember, there's no such thing as a free ride. If you think you're going to get wealthy gambling, that's just not going to happen. Gambling is exactly what it's called--a gamble. If you look at the odds, everyone loses eventually."

When questioned about the consequences of underage gambling, Chief Lyons replied: "There are legal consequences, of course. But what's worse are the personal consequences--losing friends AND losing money. People end up in a situation where the world is caving in on them because they owe money to everybody. At that point, I've seen teens sell clothes, boom boxes, whatever they have, just to get money."

Amanda wondered if there should be laws making gambling illegal. Chief Lyons said, No. "We can't keep saying: you can't do this, you can't do that. Gambling is a choice. And we all make choices in life. So I'm not sure more laws would help. People just have to know what the consequences of gambling may be for them and many times they're not good consequences."