Study: Nevada as a US leader in problematic gambling

A new study on problematic gambling in the United States shows that there is problematic gambling in every state in the country. Nevertheless, there are regional differences. The financial service provider Wallethub found this in the study. The report on this was published last week.

Problematic gambling widespread – albeit with regional differences

According to the study, the adults in the United States even showed between one and three percent problematic gambling behavior even in the form of gambling addiction. Among other things, the regional offer and the differences in the individual states would be responsible for the regional differences. Wallethub worked with scientists that these statistics could better produce these differences. 20 key figures were determined and these in turn divided into two groups: “Gambling-friendly conditions” and “problem game and treatment”.

The first group includes information such as the number of casinos and Slot machine Converted to the number of population, i.e. how many slot machines per inhabitant are available. Legality of Fantasy Sports, sales of sports betting and lottery providers and the spread of illegal gambling would also count on “gambling-friendly conditions”. Among other things, the spread of therapy offers and that of crime that can be seen in connection with gambling, as well as the number of game addicts and players have been counted. The results in the two groups were then evaluated with the factors 0.7 or 0.3. This enabled Wallethub to create a states’ ranking.

Nevada determined in ranking place one

The ranking lists the state of Nevada west in the United States in first place. Gambling has been widespread in a city in Nevada, especially in Nevada – the gaming city par excellence Las Vegas. It is therefore not very surprising that Nevada was determined as the leader in both groups. South Dakota and Montana are in second and third place. In both states in the Midwest of the United States, there are primarily offers from the tribal casino and explain the placements. At the end of the list, Hawaii, Alaska and Utah can be found. In the three states, gambling is considered critical by the governments there or gambling is completely illegal, as in Utah.

Nevertheless, gambling can also be found in Utah, albeit illegal. Parts of the population switch to the illegal offers or cross the state borders. In the adjacent states – Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming or Idaho – some then buy lottery tickets, go in Casinos Or take part in sports betting. This explains why there are also gamblers in Utah. According to the study, problematic gambling results in large debts. Male addicts would therefore lose an average of between 55,000 and 90,000 – the equivalent of around 52,400 and 85,700 $ – while the amounts in female gambling addicts would be around EUR 14,300. Nevertheless, even lower five -digit sums are hardly affordable in most cases.

Nevada not in all categories leadership

But even if Nevada is in first place overall, there are certainly overlaps with other states in individual categories. For example, Nevada shares itself with California, Louisiana and Delaware first in the category of arrests that are related to gambling. In the number of playful category, Nevada is even fifth – behind Mississippi and Minnesota, who share first place, followed by Kansas and New Jersey.

But this problem could still increase in the future, according to the financial company. The analysts from Wallethub state that the increasing legalization of the online industry would take more and more Americans in gambling and that there could be more gambling addicts. Legalization could then also provide regional differences. Depending on which types of gambling are exactly legalized, the distribution of those affected by gambling could change in the future.