Gambling Statistics

According to Ohio state law, only certain forms of gaming are legal. And often, common forms of gambling such as sports betting, office pools, Internet gaming and private poker parties are actually illegal.
Approximately 220,000 Ohioans engage in at-risk gambling with 30,000 engaging in problem gambling behaviors.¹
Of Ohioans that participate in casino gambling, 8.2% are estimated to be at low-risk, moderate risk or meet criteria for problem gambling, compared to 4.8% for lottery and 5.1% for other gambling.¹
Ohioans with alcohol or other drug addiction are more likely to have a gambling problem.¹
Problem gambling rates among teens and young adults have been shown to be 2-3 times that of adults.²

Some form of legalized gambling is available in 48 states. The only two states that prohibit gambling are Utah and Hawaii.
Approximately 85 percent of Americans have gambled at least once in their lives; 60 percent have gambled in the previous year.³
In 2010, approximately 25 percent of Americans over age 21 had gambled in casinos in the past 12 months.
In 2010, the lottery was the most popular form of gambling nationally, with 49 percent of Americans reporting having played the lottery in the past 12 months.⁴
Approximately 2 million Americans (1 percent) are pathological gamblers. An additional 2 to 3 percent of Americans experience problems due to their gambling behavior, though they may not meet all the criteria to be considered pathological.³
Approximately one in five pathological gamblers attempts suicide, a rate higher than that for any other addictive disorder.⁵

Ohio Responsible Gambling, Gambling Survey Key findings, http://goo.gl/PNp2I, 2012
The Ohio Lottery, “Problem Gambling Facts”, 2013
National Council on Problem Gambling, www.ncpgambling.org, 2012.
American Gaming Association, “State of the States,” 2011.
National Council on Problem Gambling, “The Need for a National Policy on Problem and Pathological Gambling in America,” 1993.