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Problem gambling prevalence rates
Next, we turn to examine the prevalence of
problem gambling in these four states. We noted
above that Oregon and Washington were selected
because of their low rates of problem gambling
while Montana and New York were selected because
of their high rates. Table 5 presents problem
gambling prevalence rates for the four states.
Problem gambling is defined here as the
proportion of the entire sample from each state
that scored 3 or more points on the current
(past year) items of the SOGS-R .
Table 3 shows that, in all four states, white
men were significantly more likely to gamble
regularly than white women. While the small size
of the minority groups sample, particularly in
Oregon and Montana, suggests caution in
interpreting these results (see Table 2 for
actual cell sizes), it is interesting that men
from minorities in Montana, Washington and New
York were more likely to gamble than women from
minorities in these states, whereas the opposite
appeared to be true in Oregon.
Specific gambling activities
Next, we examine differences in participation
rates for specific gambling activities. As noted
above, there are substantial legal gambling
opportunities available to residents of all four
states. All of these states operate lotteries
and permit bingo as well as pari-mutuel wagering
on horseraces. Access to gaming machines is
relatively high in Oregon and extremely high in
Montana, in contrast to New York and Washington
(see Table 1). Access to casino gambling also
varies across these four jurisdictions: high in
Washington and Oregon, much lower in New York
and Montana.
Table 4 shows rates of past-year lottery play
among male and female white and minority
respondents in the four states. Past-year
lottery play was highest in New York and lowest
in Oregon. New York also stands out as the only
jurisdiction where past-year lottery play was
higher among white people than among minority
respondents. In Washington and Oregon, past-year
lottery play was higher among both men and women
from minorities than among white people, but in
Montana women from minorities reported the
lowest rates for past-year lottery play.
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