Disordered gambling among university-based medical and dental patients: A focus on Internet gambling.

Abstract

The authors evaluated gambling behaviors, including Internet gambling, among patients seeking free or reduced-cost dental or health care.Three hundred eighty-nine patients at university health clinics completed a questionnaire that included the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; H. R. Lesieur & S. Blume, 1987).All respondents had gambled in their lifetimes, with 70% gambling in the past 2 months.On the basis of SOGS scores, 10.6% were problem gamblers, and 15.4% were pathological gamblers.The most common forms of gambling were lottery, slot machines, and scratch tickets.Internet gambling was reported by 8.1% of participants.Compared to non-Internet gamblers, Internet gamblers were more likely to be younger, non-Caucasian, and have higher SOGS scores.This study is among the first to evaluate the prevalence of Internet gambling and suggests that people who gamble on the Internet are likely to have a gambling problem.Results also illuminate the need to screen patients seeking health care services for gambling problems.