Logging on and losing out

Matt is one of many US students who play online poker

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 16 March, 2006, at 1102 GMT.

The programme was repeated on Monday, 20 March, 2006, at 2030 GMT.

Over 20m Americans spent an estimated $6bn on internet gambling last year. The poker craze is literally sweeping across the nation.

Thanks to its glitzy presentation on TV, and the millions in prize money, it is the pastime of choice for high school and college students.

Ryan was a bright successful student at one of America's most prestigious universities. But his life was shattered by an internet gambling addiction he developed at college.

Within two years he was $20,000 (around £11,500) in debt and contemplating suicide.

And with high school and college-age students twice as likely as adults to become addicted to gambling, Ryan's story is becoming all too familiar.

In Crossing Continents, James Silver revealed the heavy social cost that comes with America's poker obsession.

This is a co-production with American Radioworks, the documentary unit of American Public Media.

Presenter: James Silver
Producer: Mark Alden
Web Producer: Nathalie Knowles
Editor: Maria Balinska