This study by Henry Lesieur from the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences found that pathological and problem gamblers account for an average of 30.4 percent of total gambling expenditures in the four U.S. states and three Canadian provinces he examined (the low was 22.6 percent, the high was 41.2 percent in Louisiana). The study identified which games were associated with problematic play and identified “video machines” (as opposed to old-style slots) in that group. Lesieur concluded: “When a state decides to shift from lotto to instant or scratch lottery tickets to video machines as a revenue-raising measure, it is taking a greater and greater percentage of money from problem gamblers.”
Public Health
The Impact of Casinos on Fatal Alcohol-Related Traffic Accidents in the United States
This is a 2010 study from The Journal of Health Economics which investigates the impact of casinos on alcohol-related automobile accidents. Gamblers often drink excessive alcohol while gambling and casinos often provide free alcohol to problem gamblers. The results of the study indicate that there is a strong link between the presence of a casino in a county and the number of alcohol-related fatal traffic accidents.
The Impact of Casinos on Fatal Alcohol-Related Traffic Accidents
Report finds that 60% of gambling machine revenue was derived from problem gamblers
This report prepared for the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre found that 60% of machine revenue was derived from problem gamblers and that 35% of total gambling revenue was derived from moderate and severe problem gamblers.
New York State government report reveals 1 in 5 adolescents facing a gambling problem
New York State government released a stunning report showing 10% of adolescents in the state currently have a gambling problem and an additional 10% currently are at risk for developing a gambling problem. That means over 300,000 adolescents in New York State either have or are at risk of having a serious gambling problem.
Pathological Gambling and Alcohol Use Disorder
This study by Jon E. Grant, M.D., Matt G. Kushner, Ph.D., and Suck Won Kim, M.D. establishes a link between alcohol addiction and gambling addiction. Many casinos offer free alcohol because it increases the likelihood of people losing their self-control. The more people lose their self-control, the more money they lose gambling.
More Than 30% of Problem Gamblers Admitted to Stealing from the Workplace to Gamble or Pay Gambling Debts
R. Keith Schwer, William Thompson and Daryl Nakamuro compiled this fascinating study of problem and pathological gamblers in which they estimate the social costs to gambling’s host community, arriving at a conservative figure above $19,000 per problem gambler. Some of the detail is particularly compelling: when pathological gamblers run out of legitimate sources of money they consider illegal sources. Starting close at hand, they pass bad checks. The study found that 63.3% wrote such checks. They also look for money in the workplace. Also, 30.1% admitted to stealing from the workplace in order to gamble or pay gambling debts. This is about the same portion who stole from the workplace in other surveys: 31.7% in Wisconsin, 37.1% in South Carolina, and 40.7% in Connecticut. A majority, 50.6%, of the respondents indicated that they had stolen money or things and used it to gamble or to pay gambling-related debts.
Beyond the Limits of Recreation – Social Costs of Gambling in Southern Nevada
California Taxpayers Pay Even If They Don’t Play
Predatory gambling operators are fond of framing their scheme as a “voluntary tax.” Yet according to the California Attorney General’s 2006 study titled “Gambling in the Golden State”, problem and pathological gamblers cost California $1 billion per year, more than half what the state received in gambling revenues. Read the report below.
Why Only a Tiny Percentage of Predatory Gambling Victims Seek Help
Only about 6% of people experiencing problems with gambling are reported to seek help from problem gambling services, according to this study. People experiencing problems with their gambling often do not seek professional help until a ‘crisis’ occurs — financial ruin, relationship break down, court charges or attempted suicide — or when they hit ‘rock bottom. Another reason why problem gamblers are afraid to get help is because two of of three have done something illegal to obtain the money to feed their addiction.
Serious Gambling-Related Problems Have Emerged as an Epidemic Among America’s Youth
This report highlights how serious gambling-related problems have emerged as an epidemic among America’s youth. Today, at least one out of every five young people has a serious gambling-related problem, up from one out of every ten in 1988. The prevalence rate of gambling among the young is now 80%, almost double the rate (45%) it was in 1988. A summary of the report can be found below. It was done by Durand F. Jacobs, Ph.D., ABPP Clinical Professor of Medicine (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences), Loma Linda University Medical School, California.