I turned 18 a few weeks ago, and instead of getting a tattoo, I did the next best thing: gamble. I opened DraftKings and proudly photographed my ID. However, I learned quickly that I didn’t need to be 18 to place a bet.
Since the legalization of online gambling in 2018, sports betting has grown 10 percent according to CNN, with most users in their teens and twenties. At ORHS that growth is clear. More and more students are talking about the bets they’re placing and sending each other their picks for any given game. Students who are under 18 do so using the social betting app called Fliif.
Fliff, the teenage loophole to betting, is one of a few different sports betting platforms classified as a “social sportsbook.” These types of apps allow the user to bet using “virtual currency.” But the currency can turn into real profits with the confirmation of a social security number or ID.
What do these “profits” look like? One student says, “I had a 900-dollar win, luckiest thing of my life. I was with a bunch of friends and had a 7 or 8 leg parlay.” Other users claim numbers anywhere from 50 to 1,000 dollars. But how do they pull that money from the game? Within the app, this step requires age verification requiring an ID of someone 18 or older.
If you are a parent reading this, you might be the face of your child’s gambling addiction. Many students say they are using their parents ID to bypass this step. Another bypass students report is, “You can use Fliff, win all this money, and cash out when you turn 18,” said Jack Carpenter (’24). Another student from the next table chimed in, “I photoshopped my own ID so I could cash out.”
Students decide who to bet money on in different ways. Many text their friends to ask what they should place bets on. Others keep their answers close to the vest, “Some people gatekeep their sports betting answers,” Carpenter said. “I could figure out what to bet myself, but I get them right more often when I ask other people.”
Other students use social media. One student said, “I’ll watch people on TikTok who bet on real apps like DraftKings when they say, ‘This is the bet, that is an absolute lock. Tail this if you want to make a lot of money.’” Having outside resources to turn to can allow you to place bets on many different sports, even if you are less familiar with them.
You can bet on anything. Fliff has options ranging from the NFL to betting on poker players themselves. You can bet on teams and players in countries you’ve never heard of. One student says, “I bet on everything, American basketball, Chinese basketball league, all basketball.” With the tap of a button, I can bet on the Philadelphia Waterdogs which, if you didn’t know, is a Premier League Lacrosse team.
The real question is, are kids addicted? And more importantly, are apps like Fliff grooming them to become gambling addicts? One student jokingly says, “I wouldn’t say I have an addiction. I love betting on the World Cup even though I hate soccer, because there’s games going on all day. That really entices my gambling addiction because there’s always something to bet on.” Another student, who said they were placing “seven or eight five dollar bets a day” considered themselves “slightly addicted.”
All but one student interviewed claimed to have lost more than (they/he/she) won. How is that possible? Are kids at Oyster River just incredible gamblers? Or is it that students are unsure how much they are really feeding into this app? When I asked students how much money students put into Fliff many couldn’t recall or “weren’t keeping track.” My classmates are quick to tell me their biggest payout but reluctant to share their losses.
The important question that these apps pose is does “virtual currency” and “social betting” turn into “real betting.” Every student who was already 18 said that they turned immediately to Draft Kings after starting out on Fliff.
By the end of my interviews, I was convinced to download Fliff. So that’s exactly what I did. Just as every one confirmed, I opened the app without any form of age verification necessary. For the sake of journalistic investigation, I bought 25,000 Fliff coins, or 5 dollars’ worth. As I sat on the couch placing a bet here and there my dad glances over my shoulder. He starts offering some insight even though he’s no more of a sports fanatic than I am. We start placing our bets for the Super Bowl, which was the upcoming weekend. Just like that sports betting became a shared interest.
As someone who initially thought, what’s the hype of sports betting? I was sucked in like everyone else. Fliff on the outside poses as any other social platform, connecting people through sports. The idea of “virtual currency” is alluring because it claims to have no monetary harm, but right when I make a transaction every Fliff coin has value.
The problem I see with Fliff is that it’s normalizing gambling as if it has no consequence. There’s a reason we don’t give kids non-alcoholic beer. As a society, we don’t promote developing bad habits without the consequences. Fliff and social sports betting platforms provide users with a candy cigarette and say, “don’t smoke.”
– Maeve Hickok
Mouth of the River 
Leave a Reply