Compulsive gambling is gaining recognition as a public health issue and a disorder similar to alcoholism and drug dependency.
GAMBLING PREVALENCE RATES:
Research has estimated the number of U.S. citizens who gamble as well as the number who experience pathological and sub-clinical pathological gambling.
- Gambling rates: research has estimated that nearly 80% of U.S. population has gambled during his or her lifetime.4
- Pathological and sub-clinical pathological gambling rates: research has estimated that approximately one half of 1% (0.42 to 0.6%) of the U.S. population have experienced pathological gambling in their lifetime, and 0.9 to 2.3%.have experienced sub-clinical pathological gambling in their lifetimes.4, 5 The Mass. Council recognizes that approximately 2-3% of the population has experienced disordered gambling in their lifetimes.
- Pathological and problem gambling in Massachusetts: based on national estimates, between 85,000 and 185,000 Massachusetts residents likely have experienced disordered gambling during their lifetimes.4-6
OTHER DISORDERS WITH PREVALENCE RATES SIMILAR TO DISORDERED GAMBLING:
The 2-3% lifetime prevalence rate estimate of disordered gambling is significant. Research has estimated the lifetime prevalence rates of other equally serious public health disorders. Listed below are some substance use and mental health disorders with rate estimates that are relatively close to the rate estimates of disordered gambling.
- Opioid use disorder (e.g., oxycontin, morphine): 1.4%7
- Cocaine use disorder: 2.8%7
- Amphetamine use disorder (e.g., methamphetamine): 2.0%8
- Anti-social personality disorder: 3.6%8
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder: 1.6%9
- Schizophrenic disorders: 0.6%10
The following data is excerpted from Estimating the Prevalence of Disordered Gambling Behavior in the United States and Canada: A Meta-Analysis ( Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D.; Matthew N. Hall; and Joni Vander Bilt, Harvard Medical School, Division on Addictions, 1997).
- We are now in the midst of the third wave of widespread legal gambling in the United States (Rose, 1986;1995) This wave began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, when Nevada re-legalized casinos and pari-mutual gambling spread across the country. The current era of gambling expansion began in 1964, when New Hampshire initiated the first modern state lottery. Since then, the opportunity to gamble spread across America
- To date, 37 states in addition to Washington D.C. have legalized lotteries and 26 states have Native American or independent casinos (Whyte, 1997). All states with the exception of Utah and Hawaii have legalized some form of gambling
- During the past two decades, gambling disorders have evidenced an increasing rate among adults sampled from the general population
