Abstract

University students from southern Alberta (n = 585) were administered a questionnaire to assess their gambling behaviour.

• Seventy-two percent reported gambling in the past 6 months, with the most common types being lotteries and instant win tickets (44%) and games of skill against other people (34%).
• Most students who gambled spent very little time and money doing so (median time spent = 1.5 hrs; median amount of money spent = $0).

While gambling is an innocuous activity for most, a significant minority of students are heavy gamblers who experience adverse consequences from it.

• Seven and one-half percent of students were classified as problem or pathological gamblers, a rate significantly higher than in the general Alberta adult population.
• The characteristics that best differentiated problem gamblers from non-problem gamblers were as follows:
  • more positive attitudes toward gambling,
  • ethnicity (41% of Asian gamblers were problem gamblers),
  • university major (kinesiology, education, management),
  • superior ability to calculate gambling odds, and
  • older age.

Introduction

• Among adults, the prevalence of disordered gambling has increased significantly from 1977 to 1993 (Shaffer, Hall, & VanderBilt, 1997).
• It was estimated in a 2001 meta-analysis that 4.0% of adults in North America met criteria for either problem or pathological gambling in the past year (Shaffer & Hall, 2001).

Of even greater concern is the impact of gambling on the current generation of youth, as they are the first to have been raised in an environment of extensive legalized and government-sanctioned gambling.

• Young adults typically have the highest rates of involvement in most risky behaviours (substance use, reckless driving, unsafe sex, etc.) (e.g., Douglas et al., 1997). Gambling appears no different.
• The lifetime rates of gambling in college and university students typically range from 70% to 94%, with males consistently having higher rates than females (Adebayo, 1998; Devlin & Peppard, 1996; Engwall, Hunter, & Steinberg, 2002; Kang & Hsu, 2001; Ladouceur, Dube, & Bujold, 1994; Lesieur et al., 1991; Oster & Knapp, 1998).
   

National studies have consistently found that the rates of problem gambling also peak in the age group 18 to 24 (Gerstein et al. 1999) in the United States.

• Similarly, the meta-analysis of all North American prevalence studies found that the 19 study samples of college students had higher overall lifetime rates of problem and pathological gambling (16.4%) than either adolescents (11.8%) or adults (6.1%).
• While many studies have documented that college and university students have the highest prevalence rates of gambling and problem gambling, much less is known about the nature of gambling in this group. Specifically, little is known about the amount of time and money spent on gambling, the types of gambling being played, and the characteristics differentiating nongamblers from gamblers and gamblers from problem gamblers. The above topics form the basis for the present study.

Results

• About 72% of the sample reported gambling in the past 6 months.
• The most common types of gambling engaged were: 
  • lotteries and instant win tickets (44%)
  • games of skill against other people (34%)
  • video lottery terminals (VLTs) or slot machines (29%)
  • casino table games (26%)
• The average number of different types of gambling engaged in was 1.7 (median = 1; mode = 0).
• The average time spent on gambling in the last 6 months was 33.7 total hours (1.5 hours median) for all types of gambling combined.
• Seven percent of students spent 40 hours or more gambling.
• The types of gambling that students spent the most time at were:
  • games of skill against other people (17.3 hours)
  • casino table games (15.3 hours)
  • the stock market (8.7 hours)
  • VLTs or slot machines (7.3 hours)
• In all cases, the averages are much higher than the medians due to a small percentage of gamblers with very high involvement in the activity.
• Average total amount of money reported lost on all types of gambling in the last 6 months = $25.93
• Eleven percent of students reported losing more than $100, and 1% reporting losing more than $1000.
• The types of gambling that students spent the most money on were VLTs or slot machines ($5.23), the stock market ($4.87), casino table games ($4.84), and lotteries or instant win tickets ($4.33).
• The average losses are low partly because they are offset by small numbers of people reporting significant winnings on these activities.
• 1.4% of the total sample met criteria for severe problem gambling and another 6.2% met criteria for moderate-risk gambling.
• A further 16.9% were low-risk gamblers, 47.4% were non-problem gamblers, and 27.9% were nongamblers.
• The percentage of students who were gamblers as a function of university major was as follows:
  • kinesiology/physical education (82%)
  • management (82%), education (74%)
  • social science (72%)
  • science (66%)
  • humanities (56%)

Summary

• Gambling is a common activity among university students, with 72% having done so in the past 6 months.
• The most common types of gambling were lotteries and instant win tickets, followed by games of skill against other people.
• However, most students who gambled indicated that they spent very little time and money doing so. The types of gambling that occupied the most time were games of skill against other people and casino table games.
• The types of gambling associated with the greatest spending were VLTs and slot machines, the stock market, and casino table games.
• Consistent with prior research, it would appear that for most students gambling is a fairly innocuous activity, done primarily for entertainment purposes (Neighbors, Lostutter, Cronce, & Larimer, 2002; Kang & Hsu, 2001).
• The most popular gambling activity for college and university students as well as adults appears to be lotteries (Engwall et al., 2002; Kang & Hsu, 2001; Ladouceur et al., 1994).
   
   

Read more

Gambling and other risk behaviors on university campuses. Retrieved February 19, 2004   Engwall, D., Hunter, R., & Steinberg, M. (2002).

Gambling by college athletes: An association between problem gambling and athletes, Don Rockey, PhD; Kim Beason, EdD, CPRP; Jim Gilbert, EdD, CRPR

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