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The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) was
developed by Lesieur and Blume (8) and adapted
by Volberg and Steadman (9,10) for telephone
survey; this adaptation comprises 58 items,
along with sociodemographic information items.
The diagnostic section was originally a 20-item
scale derived from DSM-III criteria for
pathological gambling. Respondents scoring 3 and
4 are classified as “at-risk gamblers,” and
those scoring 5 points and more are classified
as “probable pathological gamblers.” Lifetime
and current prevalence rates (12-month period)
were obtained at pretest, and only the current
prevalence was investigated at posttest. Since
most residents of the province of Quebec speak
French, the French version was also used (11).
Twenty questions (including subquestions) were
added to the interview to assess more
specifically the impact of the establishment of
the Hull casino. These questions concern 1)
changes at the social, economic, and tourist
levels; 2) personal changes with regard to
finances and employment, family, and social
relationships; 3) degree of agreement with the
establishment of the casino; 4) money spent at
the casino; 5) the presence of a person within
the household, other than the
respondent, who has a gambling problem; and,
finally, 6) personal knowledge of somebody in
their immediate social network (family, work,
friends) who has developed a gambling problem in
the last 12 months (and goes to the casino
frequently). The first 2 subgroups of questions
were presented as hypothetical questions to the
Quebec control group, where there was no change
in the availability of casino activities.
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