Thousands of Connecticut residents were surveyed about their gambling habits for a report released earlier this week, and a key takeaway was that half of all sport bets in the state were placed by problem gamblers.
Problem gamblers have impaired control over their gambling, which is also associated with negative consequences for themselves or others.
Results also showed that the problem gamblers are experiencing mental health and financial problems, and some have reported declaring bankruptcy or having suicidal ideations.
Anywhere from 51% to 71% of problem gamblers reported having financial concerns, borrowing a significant amount of money or selling possessions because of their gambling habits. Bankruptcy filings occurred 13.5% to 15.7% of the time.
Mental stress was reported among 69.9% of respondents with suicide attempts being reported 1.4% to 8.4% of the time, the lowest of any of the other problems reported. Less than a quarter of problem gamblers reported experiencing domestic violence, separation or divorce, losing their job or quitting school.
The CT Mirror noted earlier this week that the report recommended restricting hours of service at casinos and finding ways to reward control instead of spending.
The reason the report uses ranges to estimate the share of problem gamblers experiencing certain problems is because of how the data was gathered and analyzed.
Two separate surveys were conducted, one that was address-based and mailed, and one that was an online panel. The mailed survey captured more than 5,200 respondents’ answers but identified only 86 problem gamblers, which was too small a sample size to make any conclusions for the habits of problem gamblers.
This is the value represented by blue dots on the graphic. It was statistically adjusted to be representative of state demographics.
To make up for this, though, the online survey was performed, which specifically over-recruited gamblers and captured an additional 329 problem gamblers. Researchers now had a total of 415 problem gamblers to draw conclusions from, but their results were not statistically adjusted, meaning that the estimates shown by the yellow dots are not meant to be representative of the state, just of the respondents.
The report then used both results as a range when expressing the prevalence of the problems associated with gambling. For example, the report states that, “13.5% [address-based weighted survey] to 15.7% [address-based and online panel survey, unweighted] of problem gamblers reported filing for bankruptcy because of their gambling.”