A gambler plays online poker in his apartment in Chicopee, Mass., in 2007. Researchers are warning university students about the risks of gambling. (Stephan Savoia/AP)

The Responsible Gaming Council, a gambling awareness group largely funded by the Atlantic Lottery Corp., is on campus at the University of Moncton this week to warn students to avoid high stakes gambling.

Danielle Ayee, a team leader with the research council’s Know the Score program, said university-aged students are most vulnerable to online gaming addictions.

“We do focus on that because of this age group. Everything with them right now is technology and it's one of their preferred methods of communication,” she said.

“Talking about internet gambling is getting them in the frame of mind to think, ‘yes I have seen that, I have been watching a video and a pop-up came up.’”

The Department of Health reports that males aged 19 to 44 are at the highest risk of developing gambling addictions.

Ayee said she hopes to teach students on the Moncton campus about risks and warning signs of problem gambling.

"Some of the signs would be skipping class or school to gamble, thinking it's more important than family and friends, using borrowed money to gamble,” she said.

But Pierre Henri, a student, said he doesn't believe it's a widespread problem on the Moncton campus.

"The only people I have heard of are people that do gamble online [and] have won a lot of money, so I guess they know what they are doing,” he said.

Ayee said that's the very myth the council is trying to overcome. Problem gamblers rarely speak of their losses, she said.

"That age group are known to be risk takers; they are away from home for the first time experimenting with different things and so gambling just might be one of those things," she said.