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tv   Nightline  ABC  December 7, 2022 12:37am-1:06am PST

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♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, breaking news. a nail-biter of a night in georgia. >> we're leaving it all on the field. >> we're out to win this election. >> after voters there turned out in record numbers, finally choosing their next senator. >> the people have spoken. >> what will the results mean for a partisan senate and a divided country? plus teen gambling. when you can place a bet from your cell phone -- >> today's teenager can gamble for essentially unlimited sums of money on the internet. >> young people becoming addicted. >> there's nine innings in a baseball game, you can bet on every single one. >> the growing danger facing families. >> what did you miss along the way? >> how quickly it became an
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obsession. and no barriers. and no mountain too high. >> whoa, whoa, whoa -- on the right! >> we're with the determined community working together to overcome their own personal challenges. >> the idea is like, hey, let's support each other so that we can all excel, so that we can all get to the summit. >> and the surprise at the other side. find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c [sleep app ] close your eyes. deep breath in. i mean, obviously, let it out. ghaa. yeah, i'm not really sure if this is working either.
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♪ thanks for joining us. breaking news as we come on the air tonight. georgia's senate seat remains blue. reverend rafaphael warnock pushg back a challenge from political newcomer herschel walker. >> you have put in the hard work, and here we are standing together. >> reporter: the crucial georgia runoff race for the senate seat fiercely contested throughout the midterm season going down to the wire. abc's congressional correspondent rachel scott is in atlanta at warnock headquarters where they are celebrating. rachel? >> reporter: juju, georgia voters knew they would have the last word in the final senate battle, and tonight they have handed democratic senator raphael warnock a major victory. his supporters celebrating tonight here in atlanta.
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this was a race that was contentious. at times surprising, full of all sorts of twists and turns. the republican challenger, herschel walker, fending off allegations that he paid for two women to get abortions. allegations of domestic abuse. even that he lied on his resume. tonight he is projected to be defeated here in georgia, dealing a crushing blow to the republican party after a string of disappointing midterm losses. as for democrats, now they have an outright majority in the senate. and this is going to make things like confirming judicial nominees, even legislating within their party, a whole lot easier. a victory and a hard-fought campaign. democratic senator raphael warnock, juju. >> our thanks to rachel. we turn to a growing problem across america. with sports betting seemingly everywhere and the easy access of online sports gambling, more
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underage gamblers are taking part and getting hooked. ♪ >> if you have a phone on you and you have connection to the internet, you can gamble whenever you want. >> reporter: 18-year-old steve first felt the thrill of gambling at age 15. >> all it took was playing dice. from there, it kind of grew. >> how much did you win? >> a couple hundred dollars. >> that was the first hit? >> the first high. >> reporter: to speak candidly he has to be in shadow, use a different name, and alter his voice to help hide his identity. how many parents do you think are aware their teenage boys have a gambling problem? >> not as many as there are. but it's hard for parents to know. >> reporter: in a world where placing a bet can easily be done on your cell phone. >> lady luck. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: commercials like these during major sporting events like the super bowl. >> new customers can bet $5 and win $280 cash in the super bowl.
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>> reporter: even with age checks and other safeguards, a growing number of teens like steve are fighting a gambling addiction. >> young people are significantly at higher risk of developing gambling disorder than adults. in part because their brains are not fully developed. their ability to evaluate risk, their ability to handle loss, isn't as secure as an adult. >> reporter: between 60 yrs to 80 with respect of high schoolers say they've gambled for money in the past year. up to 6% are addicted to gambling according to the international center for youth gambling problems and high-risk behaviors. steve says that his love of playing basketball and baseball morphed from a sports obsession into a gambling obsession. >> it's not about just watching a sports game. it's more about watching for the money. there's nine innings in the baseball game, you can bet on every single one. you can bet on if a certain person is going to get a hit in one inning. >> how did gambling hit your
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brain? >> i used gambling as an escape from several things, boredom, sadness, anger. even joy. just, like, you know -- drugs and alcohol for some people. >> it gave you a rush? >> yeah. >> reporter: in 2018, the supreme court struck down the federal ban on sports betting, paving the way for at least 30 states and washington, d.c. to legalize the practice. while the legal age to gamble in the u.s. is 18 or 21, depending on the state and types of gambling, experts warn that young people are still finding ways to place bets. >> the casino is available in many people's homes. it's on their pocket, on their smartphone. today's teenager can gamble for essentially unlimited sums of money on the internet, through friends, or even at various casinos throughout america. >> reporter: steve says he was able to illegally gamble by accessing legal sports betting
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sites using other people's accounts who were of age. he also used unregulated, offshore, illegal websites. >> this is the very first time that gambling is now socially accepted. before, it was underneath the table. now, they legalized it, made it extremely easy for anybody to bet. >> reporter: soon steve racked up thousands of dollars in debt. bookies calling him in the middle of school, he says. >> i'm in math class taking a test. and i have, like, my phone calls that i have to, like, worry about, you know, getting this person his money. >> or else? >> right. >> reporter: it became a full-time job, isolating him from his friends and family, keeping him up all night. he even began stealing money to payback his debts. >> it affected my relationship with my family, with some of my closest friends. >> when did it first occur to you that your son had an issue? >> it was kind of clutching his phone while sort of napping.
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he just started mumbling about college basketball. i actually took the phone to see what was going on. and there was this long string of texts to a colleague of his. and they had been texting all night long about their bets. >> reporter: his father, who we're calling martin, also asked to have his voice altered to help hide his identity. he says he and his wife failed to fully grasp how gambling addiction had become. >> i had to confront him to find out what was going on. it was difficult to get responses from him because he was very protective of that behavior. >> what did you miss along the way? what do other parents miss? >> how quickly it became an obsession. >> reporter: with his family's support, steve joined a 12-step program. but staying sober is no easy task. he briefly relapsed. can you watch sports without being tempted? >> honestly, not really. no. because i -- again, i kind of
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played around with it. i watched a couple games here and there. >> and those are triggers? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: he went to rehab and is now in recovery. what do parents need to know? >> advertisements, all the commercials, like, they really make it seem like it's a good thing. i've never seen a commercial talking about the downsides of it.p>> i believe they're target the young. >> reporter: gary schneider is steve's sponsor and says he too was once addicted to gambling. >> they want the next generation. they label it "gaming." now it's a game that they go on and do. it's really gambling. >> reporter: legal gaming companies refute that. we reached out to the american gaming association, which told us in september the u.s. gaming industry invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually in consumer education, employee training, research, and support. our collective responsible gaming commitment includes comprehensive protocols in place to verify the identity and age of customers. it's our priority that gaming
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remains entertainment strictly for adults. fan duel, which often advertises during major sporting events, owns nearly half the online legal sports betting market in the u.s. in a statement from september, they told abc news that fan duel strictly prohibits wagering by minors and employs a strict identity authentication process at sign-up with information that's validated by independent verification services before an account is permitted to place a wager. but steve's dad says it's not enough. >> it's in every sporting event. there's advertisements constantly. we don't sit and watch a game together like we might have when he was younger. it has been hard to have removed that from our relationship. there's just not that level of education, and there's just not that level of awareness of it as a problem. when we come back, the diverse group that won't let anything stand in their way as they fight their way to the top.
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♪ get exclusive offers on select new volvo models. contact your volvo retailer to learn more. ♪ we often celebrate those who break boundaries. but doing so takes strength and determination. and most often teamwork. and that's how one brave woman got to the top of her mountain. with every push, every inch of the way, one woman not just battling up a steep trail in colorado's rocky mourns -- she's breaking stereotypes.
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>> i don't let my disabilities stop me. sometimes i might be, like, "oh, man, i can't, i can't get through this." but i kind of change that mindset. >> reporter: mountain climbing requires extra effort for melissa simpson, battling cerebral palsy. pushing well beyond her comfort zone in this specially designed chair with hand levers propelling the wheels forward. today is one of the greatest physical challenges she's ever faced. >> feeling okay? >> yeah. >> reporter: it's a fight that comes from within. >> i don't think of my disability, and i don't particularly care for people to i can do things, but i do them differently than other people. >> reporter: the team melissa through the rough spots on this trail are volunteers. >> thanks! >> reporter: around 400 people of all abilities are making this
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hike today. organized by a nonprofit group called no barriers, empowering people with physical and mental difficulties. >> a lot of people find themselves in our community kind of getting shoved to the sidelines. and not really feeling connected. >> reporter: eric winemyer is a veteran at breaking barriers, in 2001 becoming the first-ever blind person to reach the summit of mount everest. it was overcoming those challenges as a disabled mountaineer that led him to cofounding the group. >> we get into our corners as folks with disabilities, we kind of create these expanses around us. and we become a bit isolated. >> reporter: losing his sight to a childhood condition, by the age of 14 eric was completely blind. >> i remember sitting in the cafeteria after going blind. my freshman year in high school, sitting at a table by myself. listening to all the food fights and jokes and fun over there with all my friends. i was scared to go blind, but my
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greatest fear was i was going to be left out of everything. >> reporter: he now advocates for inclusion and acceptance. >> today hiking with us up the mountain, you'll see every disability under the sun. folks in cerebral palsy to folks in wheelchairs to injured veterans to kids in foster care. an eclectic community of people. we asked them to lean in and lift each other up. >> reporter: adversity has challenged melissa all her life, from day one. born with cerebral palsy, weighing less than two pounds. spending her first two months on a ventilator. growing up confined to a wheelchair. never able to run around with other kids. her disabilities making her an easy target. >> i got bullied. i got pushed around. people would laugh and make fun of me. >> reporter: it wasn't only the other children who ridiculed her. according to melissa, even one of her teachers was abusive. >> she would tell me i wouldn't get anywhere in this world.
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i wouldn't graduate high school, let alone college. >> reporter: before she started climbing, depression and feelings of helplessness were a daily struggle as documented here in this independent film "from my window." >> from my window, i could see the tall els peaks in colorado. this is a view i had my whole life. and i've always wanted to tackle these mountains. >> reporter: melissa's journey to reaching those distant heights began on the day she defied that negative teacher and graduated from college with an associate's degree in 2017. eric was her commencement speaker. >> what doesn't get talked about enough is the struggle. >> that was the flip of the switch for me. my life turned around. >> she's just gung ho. she wants to attack life, you know? and so no barriers is a perfect
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community for her. >> reporter: back on the trail, now halfway up the mountain, melissa and her team realize they've taken a wrong turn. >> to be honest, i was reading the signs so i feel bad. i said "bridle path this way," and that's the way we went. >> i like the harder path, so that's good. >> reporter: persevering with that harder path. that determination paving the way. as the trail narrows and becomes more treacherous -- >> oh -- whoa, whoa, whoa -- compensate on the right, compensate on the right -- >> reporter: getting her through the hard places, the helpers, a vital community of support. >> we called a rope team, a metaphor taken from the mountains where you're roped to the people around you physically. hey, join this no barriers rope team and we can support each other, we can lift each other right, we can help each other solve problems, right? >> reporter: just one more hairpin turn to go. >> straight, straight, straight, straight, straight -- and turn. >> good job.
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>> route on the left, rock on the right. >> reporter: and then she and her team finally reach the peak of the mountain, just like the ones she would see from her window. finally within reach. >> yeah, i made it to the top. >> you say to melissa, you want to do the easy way or the hard way? she'll say the hard way every time. >> do you need to adjust at all? >> no, i'm good, you good? >> reporter: then a surprise from melissa's rope team, lifting her up and carrying her the final few feet to a privileged seat on the highest rock. >> whoo-hoo! >> i got your legs. >> i feel like i accomplished something bigger than myself. >> amazing job. >> my cerebral palsy won't stop me. >> that's right. kicking it in the butt. >> yes.
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>> you get pulverized in life. then you somehow figure out this way of coming back into the world. and the cool part about this community is you just sit and talk to people, and everyone has a story of challenge. a story where they were low and they figured out a way to reclaim their life. and i think the world needs that right now. there's so much negativity in the world out there. so much fear. i think the world needs no barriers. >> melissa now confirming that she is an official ambassador with no barriers. up next, "time" magazine's top entertainment artists of the year. year. ♪nissan's evs survived the north pole? ♪ and one can go 0-60 in 2.8 seconds... ♪ and they're all emission free. but don't get an ev for the “e”... ♪
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♪ finally tonight, as we near the end of 2022, "time" magazine is out with a very diverse list of the year's most influential people. ♪ dis that pink gonna get 'em ♪ >> global k-pop sensation
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blackpink, famous for their hot pink venom. selected as entertainer of the year. and black country artist mickey guyton. ♪ ♪ i'll fly away ♪ >> received three grammy nominations. one of those for her song "remember her name" with the honor of breakthrough artist. and of course keep an eye out for "time's" person of the year which will be announced tomorrow. that's "nightline." you can watch all our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.

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