A/Prof Nicki Dowling, Associate Professor of Psychology, School of Psychology, Deakin University - Youth Gambling: A Growing Problem?

Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B

YOUTH GAMBLING: A GROWING PROBLEM? A/Prof Nicki Dowling

Deakin University

[email protected]

Presentation to the 5th Annual National Juvenile Justice Summit

March 24 2014


• Forms of gambling associated with problems: poker machines, horse-racing, casino gambling

• Prevalence (Productivity Commission, 1999) – 82% gambled in previous year – 50% gambled weekly or more in previous year – 2.1% moderate to severe gambling problems – Recent state-wide prevalence rates are approximately 1%

• Gender ratio –Women comprise (PC, 1999):

– 52% of gamblers – 48% of regular gamblers – 40% of problem gamblers (cf. 14% in 1991) – ~50% of clients accessing PG support services

• Comorbidity – Nicotine dependence (60.1%) – Substance use disorders (57.5%) – Mood disorders (37.9%) – Anxiety disorders (37.5%)

EPIDEMIOLOGY


PREVALENCE: PARTICIPATION •Age restrictions generally prohibit children and

adolescents engaging in gambling activities

•Gambling participation estimates in meta-analytic studies (National Research Council, 1999; Shaffer et al., 1999):

–Lifetime: 39% to 92% (median = 85%)

–Past year: 52% to 89% (median = 73%)

• In Australia: –South Australia: 62.5% past year; 14.7% at least

weekly (15-17 years) (Delfabbro & Thrupp, 2003)

–ACT: 70.4% past year; 10.0% at least weekly (11-19 years) (Delfabbro et al., 2005)

–Victoria: 67.5% past year (12-18 years) (Dowling et al., 2010)


PREVALENCE: GAMBLING ACTIVITIES

Source: Dowling et al. (2010)

Gambling activity Never At least

once

Once a month or

more often

Scratch tickets/lottery 52% 43% 3.6%

Sports 81% 14% 3.3%

Horse or dog racing (TAB) 78% 19% 1.8%

Horse or dog racing (racetrack) 85% 12% 1.0%

Internet 93% 4% 1.8%

Table/cards (casino) 94% 3% 1.1%

Poker machines 92% 6% 1.0%

Card games (home/school) 58% 30% 10.5%


PREVALENCE: WITH WHOM?

Source: Dowling et al. (2010)

Gambling activity Alone Parents Siblings Other

relatives

Friends

Scratch tickets/lottery 13% 60% 13% 11% 3%

Sports 16% 34% 6% 8% 35%

Horse or dog racing

(TAB)

6% 62% 13% 11% 23%

Horse or dog racing

(racetrack)

3% 55% 11% 20% 35%

Internet 41% 12% 3% 12% 41%

Table/cards (casino) 12% 4% 16% 4% 52%

Poker machines 8% 24% 16% 8% 57%

Card games

(home/school)

7% 20% 25% 20% 67%


PREVALENCE: PROBLEM GAMBLING • Rates generally range from 4 to 8% (2 to 4 times adult

samples) with an additional 10 to 15% described as at-risk

• In Australia: –3.3 to 4.4% problem gamblers and a further 15% mild problems

(Delfabbro & Thrupp, 2003; Delfabbro et al., 2005)

–0.7% problem gamblers with 4.4% at-risk gamblers (Dowling et al.,

2010)

• Longitudinal study of developmental pathways (Winters et

al., 2005)

–3-wave data set that spans mid-adolescence to young adulthood –Most prevalent group was resistors (60%) –New incidence cases (21%) –Desistors (13%) –Persistors: Only 4% of cases


DIAGNOSIS • Addiction and related disorder • Persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behaviour

(12 months). 4 or more of: 1.Preoccupation with gambling 2. Needing increasing amounts of money to achieve desired excitement 3. Repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut down or stop 4. Restlessness or irritability when attempting to cut down or stop 5. Gambling to escape from problems or relieve dysphoric mood 6. Chasing losses 7. Lying to others to conceal extent 8. Jeopardising or losing significant relationship, job, or career

opportunity 9. Relying on others for bail out

• National definition: “Problem gambling is characterised by difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, others or for the community” (Neal, Delfabbro, & O’Neil, 2005)


SCREENING AND ASSESSMENT

•Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory

(CAGI)

•Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV-Adapted for Juveniles (DSM-IV-J)/Multiple response (DSM-IV-MR-J)

•Massachusetts Gambling Screen (MAGS)

•South Oaks Gambling Screen – Revised for

Adolescents (SOGS-RA)


RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS •Personality factors –Findings relating to impulsivity, excitability, disinhibition,

intensity-seeking, risk-propensity –Suggest youth problem gamblers tend to be impatient,

overactive, impulsive, and easily distracted, with an inability to foresee negative consequences and to stop responding despite unfavourable contingencies

•Emotional distress –Higher rates of a range of mental health issues, such as

anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and attempts –Particularly females


• Impaired coping –Problem gambling associated with unhelpful coping styles, such as

emotion-based, avoidant, and distraction oriented –More major negative life events –May be gender-specific patterns

• Alcohol and substance use

–Tobacco use, alcohol, marijuana and other illicit substance

• Risk-taking behaviours –Problem gambling among adolescents viewed as part of a

constellation of other antisocial, risk-taking, and delinquent behaviours

–Particularly for males

RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS


•Gambling attitudes and beliefs –Youth problem gamblers display more positive gambling

attitudes –More likely to report winning money as a reason for gambling –Stronger beliefs that gambling is a potentially profitable

activity –Rate perceived ability as higher

•Gambling expectancies –Three positive outcome expectancies: • Enjoyment/arousal • Self-enhancement • Making money

–Two negative outcome expectancies: • Overinvolvement • Emotional impact



• Family problems – Parental attachment

– Parental monitoring

– Sibling risk behaviours

– Poor perceived familial social support

– Family problems

– Low family connectedness

• Other risk factors: – male gender, early onset of gambling experiences, coming from lower

socio-economic classes, paternal pathological gambling, access to

gambling venues, high extroversion, low conformity and self-

discipline, models for deviant behaviour, parent-friends normative

conflict, low self-esteem



PATHWAYS INTO PROBLEM GAMBLING

•Pathways Model (Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002)

–Three major entry pathways into problem gamblers

1.‘normal’ or non-pathologically disturbed gamblers • secondary depression and anxiety

2.emotionally disturbed or vulnerable gamblers •predisposing psychopathology and life events

3.biologically-based impulsive gamblers •neurologically induced impulsivity

•Pathways Model for Youth (Nower &

Blaszczynski, 2004)


PATHWAY 1 YOUTH PROBLEM

GAMBLERS

•Consistent students with intact families •Gambling facilitates social interactions with peers for temperamentally shy youth •Gambling facilitates peer bonding, stimulation, excitement and skill demonstration for adventuresome youth •Often able to escape detection by educators and parents


PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION FOR PATHWAY 1

• Gambling-related educational curricula to dispel cognitive distortions and educate on probabilities, odds, randomness and effect of reinforcement schedules (see Derevensky, Gupta, Dickson, & Deguire, 2001)

• Optimal curricula: –Gambling-related supplements for existing courses –Complete program modules, requiring one to two class days –Short educational programs for educators, school counsellors,

parents, mental health providers, and other adults

• Youth who develop gambling problems despite education efforts should be referred by teachers to school counsellors

• Treatment providers should employ CBT for gambling (see Gupta & Derevensky, 2000)



GAMBLERS •Contains the largest proportion of youth gamblers

•More readily identifiable in educational settings than Pathway 1 youth

•Parents often absent from the home and unwilling/unable to actively work with teachers

•Usually average to poor students

• Eager for peer support for feelings of inadequacy and loneliness

•Antisocial behaviours typically consequence of attention seeking or consorting with “bad crowd”

•Respond well to redirection and retraining



•Educational programs (as for Pathway 1) •Educational information supplemented by supportive counselling

•School counsellors screen youth for problem gambling and comorbid issues and collect detailed family history

• Involvement of school staff to formulate educational plan that incorporates family education and processing sessions

•Referral to treatment providers (as for Pathway 1)



GAMBLERS

•Easiest to identify as they are often absent or disruptive: engage in behaviours that result in reprimands, suspensions, and expulsion

•Poor students often absent from school

•Prefer activities that provide stimulation or outlet for aggression and frustration

•Penchant for computer or video games



•Effective harm minimisation difficult •Efforts to reduce potential harm with specialised curricula and special programs of limited value

• In-school peer support groups targeting addiction issues

•Creative use of detention periods •Treatment required •But lack motivation for treatment; schools should require treatment compliance


ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN YOUTH GAMBLING PROBLEMS

•Internet gambling –Gambling available via range of technologies –Past year internet gambling in Australia = 8.1% –Internet gamblers are more likely to: •be young males •demonstrate more gambling involvement •report higher participation on most gambling

activities •prefer horse or dog racing and sports betting



•“Technological convergence” •Gambling and video gaming –Similarities between the two behaviours –Emergent social gambling experiences within the virtual

world context –High player involvement and perception of skill –Inflated payout rates in “demo” games on online gambling

sites –“Pop-up” messages advertising gambling games –‘Play for free’ gambling games on social networking sites

risk factor for problem gambling



•Gambling and social networking

–Over one-quarter of 9-11 year olds have a profile

–Spending money on virtual goods – e.g., Farmville

–Spending money on virtual chips to play poker for points

–Gambling with virtual money promotes: – Development and practice of gambling strategies – Greater familiarity and acceptance of gambling as normal – Development of positive gambling beliefs and cognitive distortions – Exposure to the excitement of gambling wins – Inflated sense of long-term profitability of gambling

•Gambling and mobile phones

–Increased accessibility

–Low rates of internet and mobile phone gambling


YOUTH OFFENDING • Very limited Australian data • Prevalence of problem gambling among adolescent

offender populations is 4-12% in the UK (Maden et al., 1996)

• Study in Florida’s juvenile justice system found that 17% of adolescents attributed their imprisonment to gambling (Lieberman & Cuadrado, 2002)

• Review of 20 prevalence studies of middle/high school youth in US found problem gamblers were at least twice more likely to be recently involved in illegal activities and/or problems with the police (Jacobs, 2000)

• Much evidence that youth problem gambling is part of a constellation of other antisocial, risk-taking and delinquent behaviour, particularly for males


WHY MIGHT GAMBLING AND CRIME BE RELATED?

1. problem gambling leads to offending via a causal pathway

2. offending might lead to problem gambling

3. a third factor may be common to both phenomena

4. in an individual case there may no specific relationship between the two problematic behaviours


GAMBLING-OFFENDING CYCLE (PC, 1999)

Experience phase of wins

Encourage more

frequent play in expectation of

major wins

Frequent play frequent

losses

Financial difficulties

“Chasing losses”

↓ income and ↑ debt

Crime to obtain money to

service debt and continue

gambling

Experience phase of wins

Encourage more

frequent play in expectation of

major wins

Frequent play frequent

losses

Financial difficulties

“Chasing losses”

↓ income and ↑ debt

Crime to obtain money to

service debt and continue

gambling


JUDICIAL RESPONSES TO GAMBLING-RELATED CRIME

• Submissions made on behalf of defendants often raise problem gambling in mitigation of sentence

HOWEVER • 76% of persons convicted of fraud motivated by gambling were given

full-time custodial sentences (PriceWaterhouse Coopers, 2003)

• Almost 2/3 of offenders with gambling problems received custodial sentences (Crofts, 2002)

• Generally, gambling is treated rather as “a symptom of an underlying problem than the cause of criminality” (R v Molesworth [1999] NSWCCA 43, 12 March 1999, per Adams J).

• Failure by an individual to take action to deal with a recognised gambling problem may even amount to an aggravating factor in sentencing

• Gambling seems usually to be taken into account as an explanation for the crime committed, but not as an excuse

• Problem gambling is rarely viewed by courts as a mitigating factor or one that requires special rehabilitative procedures


RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CJS • Educate and train CJS personnel

• Prohibitions against gambling within correctional facilities

• Explore adoption of gambling courts

• Routine screening for problem gambling at intake to correctional facilities

• Problem gambling assessment, treatment and support within case management model at correctional facilities

• Community corrections orders seen as primary sentencing response to offences involving problem gamblers where court wishes to respond with some rehabilitative sentence

• Magistrates’ case file records should include a data item on problem gambling

• Community corrections offender records should provide assessment data linked to general records


REFERRALS

•Gamblers Help telephone line: 1800 858 858 (24 hr hotline)

•Online support: www.gamblinghelponline.org.au

•Gamblers Anonymous: 9696 6108 or [email protected]

•Australian Hotels Association Self-Exclusion Program (Gaming): 9654 3491

•Crown Casino self-exclusion: 1800 801098

• TABCORPs (Wagering) self-exclusion program: 1800 882 876