A Prospective Study of the Impact of Opening a Casino on Gambling Behaviours: 2- and 4-Year Follow-Ups

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  • authors:

    Christian Jacques, Robert Ladouceur

  • published in

    : 2006

  • summary

    : It is widely believed that the rate of pathological gambling is related to the accessibility and availability of gambling activities. Few empirical studies have yet been conducted to evaluate this hypothesis. Using a longitudinal prospective design, the current study evaluates the impact of a casino in Canada's Hull, Quebec region. A random sample of respondents from Hull (experimental group) and from Quebec City (comparison group) completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and gambling- related questions before the opening of the Hull Casino (pretest), 1 year after the opening (posttest), and on follow-up at Years 2 and 4. Although, 1 year after the opening of the casino, we did observe an increase in playing casino games and in the maximum amount of money lost in 1 day's gambling, this trend was not maintained over time (2- and 4-year follow-ups). In the Hull cohort, the rate of at-risk and probable pathological gamblers and the number of criteria on the SOGS did not increase at the 2- and 4-year follow-ups. The residents' reluctance to open a local casino was generally stable over time following the casino's opening. The discussion raises different explanatory factors and focuses on the context of the Regional Exposure Model as a potentially more applicable measure of studying the expansion of gambling.

  • related url

    : http://publications.cpa-apc.org/media.php?mid=280

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  • type

    : article in journal

  • publisher

    : Canadian Psychiatric Association

  • is part of a publication

    : Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

  • volume

    : 51

  • issue

    : 12

  • original language

    : English

  • article pagination

    : pages: 10 start page: 764 - end page: 774
  • ISSN: 07067437

  • keywords

    : availability of gambling , casino , longitudinal study , pathological gambling , prevalence
  • Article entered in GambLIB database on april 23. 2009, 07:04
  • Item added by staff