Unexplained absences from classes or work.

Sudden drop in grades.

Change in personality.

These are all signs of someone with a gambling problem that were addressed in the “Gambling Away Your Money” lecture.

About 20 students gathered for the event on Monday evening in Coleman Hall.

Gambling was the last part in the four-part series.

The previous lectures were on budget, credit cards, and identity theft.

Barbara Cooper, graduate student in the school of family and consumer sciences, led the lecture using TurningPoint technology.

“It’s good because people are beginning to realize financial topics are good to address,” Cooper said.

Cooper addressed the signs and symptoms of problematic gambling, as well as how it affects not only the gambler but also those around the family.

“College gambling has become an increasing concern in both financial and mental health aspects,” said Cooper, who is also a graduate assistant for FCS and the HERC.

Cooper said gambling is becoming a trend on college with students having poker nights and NCAA picks.

She said these are fine until they start spending a lot of money and thinking excessively about gambling.

Cooper said the most popular type of gambling is betting but the scariest is online gambling.

“A lot of times, Internet gambling is secretive,” Cooper said. “It can become problematic.”

Of those in attendance, 92 percent admitted gambling before and 60 percent knew someone with a gambling problem.

Tom Usher, freshman undecided major, was one of those in the audience that has gambled. He plays Texas Hold’em, has gone to the horse tracks and participated in card tournaments.

Usher said he only gambles once in a while but knows of others who might be addicted.

“One of my friends, he gambles all the time,” he said.

“It can be scary because it is a mental health problem and it is addictive,” Cooper said.

She said colleges don’t realize how important gambling is because it has both social and secretive aspects.

It is when the gambler becomes very secretive that others need to start paying attention, Cooper said.

She said financial problems weigh heavily on students’ shoulders so much that sometimes gambling can lead to suicide.

Cooper said gambling can be “like a dream world sometimes.” It can be a sense of relief to some, she said.

While Martha Rauch, sophomore undeclared major, has never gambled, she comes the HERC-sponsored events for personal growth. She is a resident assistant in Taylor Hall and uses the information from the lectures to use for bulletin boards or just to help her residents.

Rauch said she is much more understanding of gambling now than she was before the lecture.

“I realize that it’s a bigger problem that I had given it credit for,” Rauch said.