It should come as no surprise that residents of the only US state whose economy primarily depends on casinos are more likely to experience problem gambling. How much more is the surprise.
A recent UNLV study found that 15% of adults in the state are problem gamblers, which are defined as those who have suffered harm from their addiction "many times" in the previous year.
According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, that is 7.5 times the 2% national average for a severe gambling disorder (about 2 million adults).
Furthermore, 21% of the 65% of Nevadans who reported gaming in the previous year fell into the "most severe risk category" for problem gambling. The average person in treatment owes $32,000 on gambling debt.
“We’re talking about financial harms, which are everything you can imagine — bankruptcy, loss of savings. foreclosures, using payday loans, not being able to pay your rent, not being able to buy food,” Andrea Dassopoulos, the lead author of “Gambling Behaviors, Perceptions, and Risks Among Nevada Adults,” told the City Cast Las Vegas podcast.
According to Dassopoulos, project manager for the Nevada Problem Gambling Project at UNLV's International Gaming Institute, Las Vegas, which is home to 75% of Nevada's population, is particularly vulnerable because "we're immune to it."
“We don’t even notice it anymore — just this persistent overexposure, this like strain that is just constant,” she told City Cast.
The latest study found that although individuals under 24, Blacks, and Latinos all had higher risks, casino employees were nearly twice as likely to fall into the severe risk category.
Reasons for Their Gambling
Dassopoulos and her colleagues were informed by the respondents that their main motivation for gambling is the worst conceivable outcome.
"The industry way of doing responsible gambling is to say ‘Gambling should be fun, gambling should be entertainment,’” she said. “But the reason (problem gamblers) gamble is to make money. That was a question we asked on the survey.
“That was surprising to me because I would think anybody who lives here, especially people who work in the industry, would know.”
Surprisingly little research has been done on gambling in the US gambling capital. This kind of study was last carried out in Las Vegas more than 20 years ago.
“I think it should be done every year,” Dassopoulos said. “We are not investing in this kind of research because we’re trying to address other issues, and research goes to the bottom of the list. So when it comes to our problem gambling fund, it includes treatment, prevention, workforce development, and research. And research is always the least important of those things.
“Although I would argue that you really can’t have any of those other things without good research.”
Although UNLV's International Gaming Institute recently published Dassopoulos' paper, it is not currently accessible online.