Gambling on Campus Is Risky Business

Magna Publications Audio Conference

November 1, 2006

Presenters:

Jeffrey Marotta, Ph. D

Wendy Hausotter, MPH

Oregon Department of Human Services

Campus Gambling is in the News

Source: USA Today – December 23, 2005

The Perfect Storm? Age:

College years associated with a wide range of at-risk behaviors Availability:

First generation to be exposed to wide-scale legal gambling. Technological advances make placing bets easier than ever.

Acceptability: Operated by governments, commonly endorsed by schools,

integrated into mainstream culture. Advertising/Media:

More than ever. Promoted as sport, glamorized, winning bias. Access to cash:

The average college student receives about 25 credit card solicitations per semester (National Public Radio).

Gambling at College

Percentage of college students who say they take part in gambling in an average week:

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

14.00%

16.00%

18.00%

'02 '03 '04 '05

All Gambling

Card Gambling

InternetGambling

Source: Annenberg Public Policy Center

“At the college and university level, poker is pretty much the hottest thing going” Mike Edwards, Business Development Manager for absolutepoker.com

26% of college men gamble in online card games at least once a month and 4% once a week or more

Internet gambling is illegal however there are at least 300 online poker rooms with an estimated $60 billion bet in 2006.

Gambling appears common and benign for most college students

Gambling at some level is the norm among college students 72% in Alberta sample 70% in Connecticut sample 88% in Minnesota sample

A sizable percentage of college student gamble excessively and show signs of a gambling problem (3.2% - 16.4%).

WHEN IT GETS TO BE TOO WHEN IT GETS TO BE TOO MUCHMUCH

Definitions

PROBLEM PROBLEM GAMBLING:GAMBLING: Gambling Gambling

behavior which behavior which causes or causes or disruptions in any disruptions in any major area of life: major area of life: psychological, psychological, physical, social or physical, social or vocationalvocational

PATHOLOGICAL PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING:GAMBLING: Persistent and

recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior that disrupts personal, family or vocational pursuits

Lifetime prevalence of combined problem and pathological gambling

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

adults

Adolescents

collegestudents

Source: Shaffer & Hall (2002). Updating and refining meta-analytic prevalence estimates of disordered gambling behavior in the United States and Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 92(3), 169-172

High Risk Groups

Athletes

Greeks

& Other Correlates

Gambling by college athletes

Source: Rockey, Beason, & Gilbert (2002). Gambling by college athletes: An association between problem gambling and athletes. EJGS: 7

2002 study on 954 students from 9 universities belonging to Southeastern Conference.

Results: Male athletes risk of developing PG is about 3X higher than average student.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

PathologicalGambling %

ProblemGambling %

All Participants All Athletes

Male Athletes Female Athletes

U OF MICHIGAN STUDY

72% of student athletes have gambled at least once since entering college; 45% of male athletes gamble on sportsOne in 20 male student athletes admitted:• providing inside information for gambling

purposes• betting on a game in which they participated, or• accepting money for performing poorly in a game

Student athletes who gambled on sports with bookies gambled an average of $225 per month

GREEKS VS. NON-GREEKS

General gambling:• Fraternity/Sorority Members 82%• Non-Members 80%

Rate of problem gambling:• Fraternity/Sorority Members 5%• Non-Members 2.9%

Source: Rockey, 2002; Southeastern Conference (SEC) study

Correlates of Problem Gambling

Male weekly or daily user

of alcohol or illicit drugs

relatively high disposable income

had been raised by a parent with a gambling problem

NOT associated with problem gambling:

amount of credit card debt

GPA school class level

Source: Winters, 1998

Plays with $ that is needed or borrowed.

Expects to win; keeps playing to win back losses.

Pre-occupied with gambling.

Frequent, or spends more time gambling.

Sticks to limits of money to play with.

Hopes to win butexpects to lose.

Can take it or leave it.

Occasional gambler.

PROBLEM GAMBLINGPROBLEM GAMBLINGSOCIAL GAMBLINGSOCIAL GAMBLING

TELLING THE DIFFERENCE

Are we dealing with an epidemic?

Longitudinal data What colleges and universities are doing to address issue

Do college problem gamblers “mature out” of a gambling problem?

468 first year college students followed from age 18 to 29 (four data points at year 1,4,7, & 11)

Overall prevalence of past-year problems remained steady throughout the 11 years (2-3%) with lifetime prevalence of 10.3%.

75% of freshman with PG reported no problem as seniors.

Results suggest that gambling problems are not a persistent condition but rather people move in and out of problem gambling stages somewhat fluidly.

Source: Slutske, Jackson, & Sher (2003). The natural history of problem gambling from age 18 to 29. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 263-274.

How Do College Addiction Policies Stack Up?

Source: Shaffer, Donato, LaBrie, Kidman, & LaPlante (2005). The epidemiology of college alcohol and gambling policies. Harm Reduction Journal 2005, 2:1

Methods: Information collected from 119 colleges using 40 item data collection instrument.

Results: All schools had a student alcohol use policy, only 26 schools (22%) had a gambling policy.

Conclusion: Since there are few college gambling-related policies, schools might be missing an opportunity to inform students about the dangers of excessive gambling.

What Colleges Are Doing

Statewide Efforts Oregon MA Others?

Campus Specific Efforts ?

What Colleges Can DoAssessment

Partners

Awareness

Training

Assistance

Policyapplies equally to 2- and 4-year institutions

Assess the problem

Preferred: student surveyAlternative: diverse focus groups

(athlete, greek, “average”, student council, class level, gender, ethnicity)

survey

your own, “survey monkey” type or from a vendor (may be best for confidentiality concerns)

e-survey may be best for college age IRB issues sample questions: INSERT

Caveat: wording of questions is important

a few focus group questions

How common is student gambling? How are students gambling? Are you seeing and problems or negative

effects? What is the best way to get the attention of

students for an issue like this? What information/services should the school

provide”?

Cultivate potential partners

Academic departments: psychology, public health, athletics

Student organizations/student gov’t Administrative departments: health and

counseling services, financial aid, student affairs

Local problem gambling treatment, prevention and recovery groups

Build Awareness

Can be low or no costInvolve students as much as

possibleUse a variety of means and

keep the messages alive

ideas

Problem Gambling Awareness

Week Campaign via fliers, posters, pamphlets Campus tv and radio shows Web-based info and resources Address in course assignments: ethics,

psychology, sociology, government, health, film, journalism, business

Example: Problem Gambling Awareness Week

National campaign offering website, materials

Many states and local jurisdictions participate and can be your partners

www.pgaw.org

Example: campaign

Insert pic of russell herder flyer or campus newspaper ad

Example: course work

Includes a chapter on state-supported gambling with discussion, debates and assignments

Example: website

why is thisone soextensive?

Lehigh U. knows the problem is realGreg Hogan was:

a 19-year-old finance and accounting major at Lehigh University

president of his sophomore class a cellist in the university orchestra an employee in the school chaplain's

office the son of a Baptist minister ….and a desperate problem gambling student

who robbed a bank

Offer Specialized Training

Student health and counseling staff Peer educators Resident assistants Student leadership Faculty, admin, coaches

Topics: signs, symptoms, referral and support

Offer Intervention & Assistance Assessment and referral and followup

support on campus Information on and connections to local

gambling treatment resources including counseling, helpline

National helpline Local (or campus?) Gambler’s

Anonymous Online resources

Develop Policy

Address gambling as you would any other risky behavior (only 25% of colleges have a gambling policy)

Avoid zero tolerance approach Internet is worth special attention Reference athletics’ existing policies

Resources

Handout offers extensive list…a couple of

quick examples to pique your interest

Online Resource

http://www.education.mcgill.ca/gambling/en/english/default.htm

Wendy resource example

Final advice

Start somewhere!

there are many

pieces to an

effort like this, and

even one piece

represents progress

After you put the pieces in place, give yourself credit…let key supporters know you are taking a stand

Parents Alumni Local media Other academic institutions