DeKALB | Many students already investing in tuition, books and room and board are finding another means of losing money: gambling.

Gambling is not permitted in the residence halls, as stated in the NIU Guide Post. It can also be harmful to students who participate, said Larry Bolles, NIU director of the NIU Judicial Affairs Office.

“It is a major problem on some campuses across the country with students losing tuition money,” Bolles said. “We can’t condone something like that because we see the destruction it causes to students.”

Though there have been instances in the past of students being removed from the university for illegal gambling, it hasn’t occurred recently, Bolles said.

“In the last year and a half, we haven‘t seen it. We don’t have any evidence of it,” Bolles said. “But if students get caught, then there are consequences.”

Though it isn’t difficult to find a poker game in the residence halls, online gambling is harder for university officials to monitor, Bolles said. He added that the addiction can also be a silent killer for students who are not careful.

“I think it’s kind of dangerous because people don’t have the money in front of them,” said Dan Rosenberg, a sophomore special education major. “You can click away $500 like it’s nothing.”

Whenever he plays, he only plays for a couple of dollars a game to make it more interesting, Rosenberg said. The same holds true for freshman journalism major Peter Alfono.

“I don’t play enough that I lose a lot of money,” Alfono said. “I only play once every couple of weeks, and if I lose it’s only like $10.”

For others, gambling can grow into a serious addiction. Rosenberg and Alfono both said they know people who gamble online until early morning.

“It‘s too confusing for me,” Rosenberg said. “It’s different from playing with guys for a couple of bucks. It’s hard to read people.”

According to Bolles, students do not think gambling on a college campus is bad because it is legal if they are of age. What students are doing, however, is violating a university rule and putting themselves at risk.

“Gambling on a college campus is akin to giving a drowning man a glass of water,” Bolles said. “There’s no way he’s going to do well.”