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ADOLESCENT GAMBLING


Gambling Behavior of Adolescent Gamblers
Richard Govoni
Nicholas Rupcich
G. Ron Frisch
Journal of Gambling Studies, Volume 12, Number 3 - Fall 1996


In 1994, 935 Windsor, Ontario grade 10 to grade 13 high school students (14 to 19 years of age) were surveyed in the classroom. A modification of the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the SOGS-RA developed for adolescents, was utilized in the survey (1).

Of the sample, 96.2% had gambled at some time in the past and 90.8% had gambled in the previous year. The following were the most popular gambling activities in the sample:

Popular Gambling Activities
Betting with friends 79.4%
Scratch tickets 76.3%
Cards 65.3%
Pull tabs 55.7%
Games of skill 54.3%
Lottery 52.5%
Bingo 42.8%
Sports Select 35.5%

The SOGS-RA identified a variety of problem gambling behaviours experienced by the adolescents in the sample. The following table shows the most frequently experienced problem gambling behaviours.

Problem Gambling Behaviours
Gambling more than planned 22.0%
Felt bad about gambling 20.4%
Tried to win back lost money 13.4%
Claimed to be winning 9.6%
Borrowed and not paid it back 8.6%
Hidden signs of betting 8.4%

The SOGS-RA classifies adolescent gamblers into three categories: problem gamblers, at risk gamblers and non-problem gamblers. Problem gamblers are individuals who had experienced four or more gambling problems in the previous year. At risk gamblers are those individuals who had experienced two or three gambling problems in the previous year. Based on these criteria it was estimated that 8.1% of the sample were problem gamblers and an additional 9.4% were at risk gamblers.


(1)
Winters, K.C., Stinchfield, R.D. & Fulkerson, J. (1993).
Towards the development of an adolescent gambling problem scale.
Journal of Gambling Studies, 9, 63-84.

Winters, K.C., Stinchfield, R.D. & Kim, L.C. (1995).
Monitoring adolescent gambling in Minnesota.
Journal of Gambling Studies, 11, 165-183.


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