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Analysis: More Women Revealing Gambling Problems

`Women as problem gamblers have really zoomed up in the statistics in the last five to 10 years,' said Marvin A. Steinberg, executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling.

"Steinberg said that an analysis of the nearly 1,100 calls made to the council's 24-hour telephone hot line in 2000 revealed that women are reporting problems now nearly as often as men. About 47 percent of callers to the problem gambling phone line were women in 2000, compared with 27 percent in 1994.

"…`When it becomes more accessible and socially acceptable, women do it more and we find out that women are as vulnerable as men are,' he said.

"…Although male problem gamblers tend to be younger than female problem gamblers, they had substantially larger lifetime losses due to gambling, the new statistics show. Males had an average lifetime loss of $73,980, compared with $54,278 for women. However, both men and women reported that their current gambling debt was the same, about $21,000.

"…Callers to the council's phone line reported significant emotional problems, such as depression and thoughts of suicide. About 40 percent of problem gamblers reported that alcohol abuse was a problem in their family when they were growing up…"

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