Study: Compulsive gambling more common than alcoholism
By Liz Benston, Las Vegas Sun
For decades, researchers have said that alcoholism is more common in the U.S. adult population than compulsive gambling.
But last month the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions published a surprising report concluding just the opposite.
After age 21, gambling problems are more common than booze dependence, the institute found in analyzing data from two national studies.
The study included all forms of gambling, such as lotteries, office pools, charity bingo, Internet gambling and raffles.
The results have drawn skepticism from some treatment experts in light of long accepted research that drinking problems are at least twice as common as gambling problems. Even the institute’s chief investigator, John Welte, was surprised by the results.
“I didn’t expect problem gambling to be more common than alcohol dependence for such a wide age range,” he said.