New Jersey rise in problem gambling

In the first representative look at gambling behavior in New Jersey since the 1980s, a Rutgers University study reveals problem gambling levels are four times the national average.

The study by Rutgers-New Brunswick’s Center for Gambling Studies at the School of Social Work, which surveyed 3,634 adults both by telephone and online, found that 70 percent of New Jerseyians gambled last year, with one in every 16 reporting symptoms of a gambling disorder.

“For most people, gambling is recreation,” Lia Nower, the center’s director, who led the study, said. “But the more games you play, the more often you gamble and the more venues you frequent, the more likely you are to develop a problem.”

75 percent of the participants reported gambling at casinos and other land-based venues while only 5 percent gambled online. Nineteen percent of gamblers said they gambled both online and at land-based venues.

The most popular games were lottery tickets and instant scratch-offs, gaming machines and live casino table games.

“The people with the most severe problems are typically those who gamble on activities like slot machines and video poker at casinos and also played casino games online,” Nower said.

Hispanic adults reported the highest rates of problem gambling of any ethnic group, 16 percent. That was more than eight times the rate in the general population and three times the rate of white adults.

The study also examined the relationship of gambling to daily fantasy sports play, which federal law excludes from gambling prohibitions. Both frequency and severity of gambling in this group were significantly higher than among gamblers in general, the study found.

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