effects of problem gambling

It is important to recognize that most people can gamble without negative consequences. A small percentage who gamble, however, suffer enormous social, economic, and psychological implications.

Individuals, families and communities all suffer from problem gambling, and, while it would be impossible to describe all of the repercussions associated with problem gambling, the following issues help to illustrate why problem gambling can be so destructive. 

Economics

• The average gambling-related debt in 2007 among problem gamblers in treatment was was over $26,100 (Moore, in press)

• According to Earl Grinols, 2004, the average social-economic cost of problem gamblers was approximately $3,000 each and $11,000 for each pathological gambler – or an estimated social-economic cost in excess of $449 million for Oregonians.

People entering in Oregon problem gambling treatment in 2007 had more than $37 million in estimated combined gambling-related debts (Moore, in press)

Crime

• Studies of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) members report that approximately half of the participants had stolen to gamble and over one-third had been arrested (Thompson, Gazel, & Rickman, 1996)
• The vast majority of gambling-related crimes are non-violent; embezzlement, check forgery, credit card theft, fenced stolen goods, tax evasion, insurance fraud, employee theft and fraud are common gambling-related crimes
• About one in five (21%) of clients enrolled in Oregon's gambling treatment system in 2007 reported committing crimes to finance their gambling (Moore, in press)

Family Issues

Family violence:

• The National Research Council (1999) reported on studies indicating that 25 to 50 percent of spouses of pathological gamblers have been abused
• Case studies of 10 casino communities revealed that the majority of those communities witnessed increases in domestic violence related to the opening of casinos (National Opinion Research Center, 1999)

Effects of adult problem gambling on children:

• "Children of compulsive gamblers are often prone to suffer abuse, as well as neglect, as a result of parental problem or pathological gambling" (National Opinion Research Center, 1999)
• Research consistently shows higher rates of pathological gambling in teens whose parents gamble excessively (Gupta & Derevensky, 1997; Jacobs, 2000; Wallisch & Liu, 1996)
• Children of problem gamblers have been shown to have higher levels of use for tobacco, alcohol, drug use, and overeating than do their classroom peers (Gupta & Derevensky, 1997)

Suicide/Depression

More than 21 percent of problem gamblers in Oregon treatment in 2007 had suicidal thoughts, and more than 7 percent had attempted suicide.

• A major depressive disorder is likely to occur in 76 percent of pathological gamblers (Unwin, Davis, & Leeuw, 2000)
• A Nova Scotia study listed problem gambling as a factor in 6.3 percent of suicides (2004). In Nova Scotia, gambling questions are asked specifically along with suicide investigations
• An estimated two percent of suicides in Canadian provinces of Alberta, Quebec, and New Brunswick were related to problem gambling issues (Messerlian, Youth Gambling International Newsletter, Summer 2005)

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