Video lottery gambling: Effects on pathological gamblers seeking treatment in South Dakota

Fifty-eight pathological gamblers receiving treatment for addictive illness in two South Dakota hospitals were assessed for types of gambling and grouped into three categories; 15 video lottery only (VLO), 36 video lottery mixed (VLM), and 7 not video lottery (NVL). There were 51 male and 7 female respondents, with a mean age of 38.2. We hypothesized that video lottery would be the predominant type of gambling on several dimensions: level of recent activity, most money lost on one occasion, and number of DSM-IV criteria met. Of all gamblers, 87.9% had pathological involvement with video lottery. Video lottery gambling accounted for the highest level of recent activity. In the VLM group, video lottery gambling led to greater single-occasion monetary losses. In addition, significantly more DSM-IV criteria were met in the VLM group for video lottery gambling than for other forms of gambling these subjects had engaged in. Results indicate that video lottery gambling is the predominant type of gambling behavior engaged in by gamblers seeking treatment for addictive illness in South Dakota. We propose that these findings could be associated with the availability and stimulus differences between video lottery and other gambling types.The authors would like to thank Larry Atwood, Chemical Dependency Counselor at Keystone Treatment Center in Canton, S.D., for his assistance with data collection.     

Vulnerability and Comorbidity Factors of Female Problem Gambling

This study helps to address a deficiency of gender-specific research into problem gambling. It focuses on the gambling behaviors, family and personal histories and comorbid psychological disorders of 365 female gamblers from across Ontario, Canada, who responded to a mail-in survey. Specifically, this study looks at rates of depression and anxiety, concurrent struggles with other behaviors (such as alcohol and drug use, disordered eating, overspending and criminal activity) and abuse history reported by female gamblers. The reported rates are considerably higher than for the general female population. The findings of this study agree with previous research. They suggest that prevention strategies and treatment practices for female problem gamblers should take into account women’s mental health, addiction and trauma history as contributing factors in the development of problematic gambling.     

The Social and Psychological Impacts of Gambling in the Cree Communities of Northern Québec

A detailed survey of gambling, addiction and mental health was conducted with randomly selected respondents (n = 506) from four Cree communities of Northern Quebec. The study examined the current patterns of gambling in relation to demographic, social, and psychological factors. Instruments included the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, Addiction Severity Index, Beck Depression Inventory and the computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule for psychiatric diagnoses. Overall, 69.2 % of the total sample participated in any gambling/gaming activities over the past year; 20.6 % of this group were classified as moderate/high risk gamblers, and 3.2 % were classified in the highest “problem gambling” category. Considering the entire sample, the overall prevalence of problem gambling was 2.2 %. Women were significantly more likely to play bingo (56.6 %) compared to men (35.1 %) and they played more frequently; 20.8 % of women versus 3.8 % of men played once/week or more often. Compared to the no/low risk gamblers, a greater proportion of moderate/high risk gamblers were cigarette smokers (44.8 vs. 56.3 %), they were more likely to meet DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence (21.2 vs. 46.2 %), and they were more likely to report moderate to severe depressive symptoms in the past month. Risk factors for problem gambling included traumatic life events (physical and emotional abuse), anxiety and depression, as well as drug/alcohol abuse. The high rates of comorbidity between problem gambling, tobacco dependence, substance abuse and other psychological problems demonstrate that gambling among some Cree adults is part of a pattern of high-risk factors for negative long-term health consequences. The results also have implications for treatment, suggesting that interventions for gambling disorders should not focus on gambling alone but rather the constellation of high-risk behaviours that pose a risk to recovery and well-being.     

Beliefs About Gambling Problems and Recovery: Results from a General Population Telephone Survey

Respondents were asked their beliefs about gambling abuse as part of a general population telephone survey. The random digit dialing survey consisted of 8,467 interviews of adults, 18 years and older, from Ontario, Canada (45% male; mean age = 46.2). The predominant conception of gambling abuse was that of an addiction, similar to drug addiction. More than half of respondents reported that treatment was necessary and almost three-quarters of respondents felt that problem gamblers would have to give up gambling completely in order to overcome their gambling problem. Problem gamblers (past or current) were less likely than non- or social gamblers to believe that treatment was needed, and current problem gamblers were least likely to believe that abstinence was required, as compared to all other respondents. Strong agreement with conceptions of gambling abuse as disease or addiction were positively associated with belief that treatment is needed, while strong agreement with conceptions of disease or wrongdoing were positively associated with belief that abstinence is required.     

Measuring pathological gambling in children: The case of fruit machines in the U.K.

The alleged incidence of addiction to fruit machine gambling among children in the U.K. has highlighted the need for a measure to define and count pathological gambling in children. The DSM-IV criteria, which are being refined to diagnose pathological gambling in adults, was adapted for use with pre-adult gamblers. The resulting DSM-IV-J criteria were tested using a questionnaire survey on a sample of 467 schoolchildren aged between 11 and 16 years. Those children who were defined as probable pathological gamblers by the DSM-IV-J index were significantly more likely to be involved in behaviours hitherto associated with dependency, than were the control group. DSM-IV-J appears to be a major advance in the discrimination of pathological gambling in children.The author would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for funding this work through a Research Studentship Grant. The author would also like to thank Henry Lesieur Ph.D. and Mark Dickerson Ph.D. for their helpful comments in the design stage of this research.     

The epistemology of “addictive disease”: Gambling as predicament

This research examines the relative perception of gambling as a disease in the context of drug use/abuse, and other excessive behavior patterns, for example, workaholism. A sample of 144 adults provided subjective perceptions of disease status of 80 representative items drawn from the literature. A subset of these items represented the class of addictive diseases. These items were subjected to principal components analysis to reveal the presence of clusters or constellations of perceptually similar entities. Gambling was perceived to beless of a predicament (i.e., a potentially dangerous situation; Shaffer, 1987) than substance abuse or substance dependence, particularly if the substance was illicit, such as cocaine or heroin. Gambling was not perceived to be characterized by the underlying construct of dependence, a dimension associated with the abuse of illicit substances. Another analysis revealed that when gambling and substance abuse and dependence were perceived against ause of substances background, licit and illicit, gambling was more likely perceived as a permissible activity than a predicament which might lead to abuse and/or dependence. This same result characterizes the perceptions of alcohol use, cocaine use, chemical use, and heroin use. While individuals may recognize the potential danger of drug abuse, illicit drug use per se is not perceived to lead to drug abuse, dependence, or addiction as often portrayed by the government and media. Against a background of excessive behaviors, for example, workaholism, gambling emerged as more similar to these behaviors than abuse or use. The implications of these findings are discussed. The clinical implications of an epistemology of addictive disease were also discussed.Preparation of this article was supported, in part, by a contract (#2322905893) from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.Special thanks are extended to Thomas Cummings, Sharon Stein and Norman Zinberg for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.     

Impact of a Casino Opening on Gambling Behaviors of People Engaged in Methadone Maintenance

This study examined gambling behavior in the context of a newly opening casino, comparing disordered gamblers to non-disordered gamblers, in a population of individuals involved in methadone maintenance treatment. Disordered gamblers (N = 50) and non-disordered gamblers (N = 50) were surveyed before and after the opening of a new casino on gambling behaviors, substance use, and psychological symptoms. No statistically significant changes in gambling behaviors were observed for disordered gamblers or non-disordered gamblers across time points; however, non-disordered gamblers demonstrated non-significant increases in horse and dog race betting, electronic games, and casino table games. As expected, disordered gamblers were found to spend significantly more money on electronic games and casino table games (p < 0.05) and demonstrated higher rates of drug use and impulsivity than non-disordered gamblers. The introduction of a new casino did not appear to have a major impact on gambling behaviors of individuals attending methadone maintenance treatment, though the non-significant increases in gambling among non-disordered gamblers may indicate that this population is preferentially impacted by the opening of a new casino. Future investigation into the longer term effects of opening a new casino on this population may be warranted.     

Inpatient treatment of male pathological gamblers in Germany

Pathological gambling is viewed as a disease of unknown cause which requires treatment. Demographic and psychological traits of fifty-eight male patients are described. A control group of fifty-four patients with other addictions was used to determine the validity of a diagnostic test which aims to differentiate between harmless gambling behavior and addiction to gambling. This test is described along with the stages of pathological gambling and the process of treatment for the disorder. Most of the gamblers are young, often previously convicted of theft, highly indebted, in danger of committing suicide, and susceptible to other addictive substances, especially alcohol. Harmless, critical and chronic stages are described. Regarding in-patient treatment, it has proved to be useful to integrate individual members into groups of alcoholics as they are a therapeutic benefit to these groups. The pragmatic and symptom-oriented therapy proved to be good for gamblers as well. A follow-up with forty-nine patients for one year and twenty-five for two years found 71% abstinent after one year and 62% abstinent after two years of treatment. These results are similar to those obtained with alcoholics.     

Children of Gamblers Anonymous members

One hundred and five children of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) members and pathological gamblers in treatment were surveyed concerning behavioral, psychological, and emotional problems as well as parental use of violence. The results were compared with control groups and Jacobs' study of high school students who reported they were children of compulsive gamblers. Children of known pathological gamblers were less likely to admit to moderate or heavy use of cocaine/crack and less likely to gamble more than they could afford than either Jacobs' children of compulsive gamblers or controls. Children of pure gamblers looked more like Jacobs' controls than the self-reported children of compulsive gamblers he surveyed on several measures. Children of multiple-problem families are more likely than children of pure gamblers to smoke tobacco, get drunk, overeat, sleep worse than most people, have an unhappy present state of mind, and feel more insecure, inferior, or inadequate than most. GA and treatment children as a whole were more likely to say they had an unhappy childhood, and feel a need for success, acceptance, and approval than Jacobs' children of compulsive gamblers or his controls. Using Strauset al.'s conflict tactics scale, children of known pathological gamblers were more subject to parental violence and abuse than nationally normed samples. On most measures, the children of multiple-problem families fared worse than children of pure gamblers. However, there were no differences in the expressions of anger, hurt, sadness, depression, confusion, and other feelings between these groups concerning their parents' gambling. Treatment implications of the findings are discussed.The authors would like to thank Mary Heineman, M.S.W., and Valerie Lorenz, Ph.D., for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

An exploratory study of gambling cross addictions

A growing body of empirical and theoretical research has concentrated on the overlaps and commonalities among chemical and non-chemical (behavioural) addictions. Pathological gambling has perhaps been the most widely researched behavioural addiction and some of this research has concerned the co-existing links between pathological gambling and alcohol/drug addiction in both the gambling substance abuser and the substance abusing gambler (i.e. cross addiction). This study was of an exploratory nature and attempted to gather information and data regarding gambling cross addictions in the UK. To achieve this, 456 letters were sent to all drug and alcohol helping agencies in England requesting such information. This yielded 210 returns (46% response rate). Results indicated that gambling cross addictions occur in both adults and adolescents and were almost exclusively a male condition. However, it must be noted only just over half of the responding agencies had encountered gambling cross addiction and reasons for this are speculated. Results also indicated the existence of various cross addicted subgroups including an adolescent subgroup who were addicted to fruit machines and abused solvents. Future research ideas are also discussed.A more detailed version of this paper is available from the author on request.