The folks at the Oregon Department of Human Services say they are shocked - shocked - by the results of a new study that indicate middle school students who gamble are far more likely to dabble in other risky behavior later in life.

Well, actually, the precise quote from Jeff Marotta, the problem gambling services manager in the Oregon Department of Human Services, was "The data are startling." For example:

• Eighth-grade gamblers are nearly twice as likely to engage in sex as non-gamblers while 11th-grade gamblers were 25 percent more likely to do so.

• At both grade levels, gamblers were three times as likely to carry handguns.

• Fist-fights, serious assaults and drinking all were greatly increased among young gamblers.

Shocking? Yes. Surprising? Hardly.

The state of Oregon itself is so addicted to gambling as a revenue source that the state now is devoting public information spots aimed at curbing adult gaming. These spots warn people to set a budget and to set a time limit. (But not to stop gambling.)

This is hypocrisy at the state level, and it's comparable in its effectiveness to telling alcoholics to switch from whiskey to beer.

Ever since Gov. Barbara Roberts said in 1990 that the state needed to tax video poker machines in the wake of the passage of property tax Measure 5 as a means of milking that "cash cow," Oregon has steadily increased its dependence on all forms of

legalized gaming.

Now such "video lottery" machines account for 78 percent of all lottery earnings, and the state has grown very dependent on that "milk" money.

What the study doesn't address is where children are getting the idea to gamble. One answer, from the Oregon Lottery's own figures, is that about 61 percent of the state's adult population plays the lottery. Can anyone be surprised that children draw their own conclusions from seeing their parents scribbling away at those scratch-it tickets or eagerly comparing the numbers on their Megabucks and Pick4 slips to the winning numbers?

Oregon's No. 1 tourist attraction isn't Crater Lake or Silver Falls; it now is a gaming casino.

Problem gambling is such a concern, the state now offers a 24-hour hotline.

Into this mix now will be introduced a seven-minute video that the state DHS plans to show at schools, boys and girls clubs, church groups and similar gathering spots for youth. The video features young people speaking with other young people about "How to avoid getting into trouble with gambling."

However, Marotta was reluctant to suggest the solution might be to … oh …

encourage adults to stop gambling as a powerful example to their children that get-

rich-quick thinking is generally the wishful thinking of a loser.

Instead, he told the Associated Press, "This isn't a cause-and-effect relationship. Gambling doesn't cause these other behaviors. But gambling should be a signal to parents that they ought to be talking to teens about risky behaviors, including gambling."

Or maybe about the dangers of asking young people to do as we say, and not as we do.