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Objective: To help mitigate potential gambling harm, responsible gambling information centres are launching across casino venues in North America. The launch of the first such centre in the USA provided an opportunity to achieve three goals: (1) document the centre's reach among casino patrons, (2) generate a comprehensive description of services provided, and (3) explore the potential for a dose-response relationship between centre exposure and gambling beliefs and behaviour. Design: We documented services provided and surveyed consecutive centre visitors. Setting: We achieved these goals at the GameSense Info Center, located in the first Massachusetts casino. Method: Programme staff recorded their services via electronic checklist and administered one-page surveys to visitors with whom they discussed problem or responsible gambling. Results: Programme staff reported engaging directly with approximately 1% of daily patrons. About 70% of their interactions were casual. During conversations that did move beyond a casual nature, programme staff typically provided information about responsible gambling, consistent with patrons' self-reported needs and concerns. Finally, among a sample of patrons who repeatedly engaged with programme staff at the most involved level (N = 129), those with relatively little programme exposure were more likely to hold an accurate gambling belief but less likely to report having set time limits on their casino visits. Conclusion: We did not observe support for the notion that using an on-site information centre to teach patrons about important gambling concepts is associated with more responsible gambling behaviour.

'Responsible drinking' remains a poorly defined construct despite decades of use among diverse stakeholders including industry, academics, governmental agencies, and addiction advocacy groups. To move the field closer to a consensus definition of responsible drinking that is useful for educational and research purposes, we describe five primary barriers that discourage the construction of a shared definition of responsible drinking. These barriers include the lack of foundational empirical evidence, the social construction of the term, the possibility that different targets require different definitions, the political implications of responsible drinking, and the possibility that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. We conclude this article by offering suggestions to overcome these barriers through further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents findings from the first taxometric study of actual gambling behavior to determine whether we can represent the characteristics of extreme gambling as qualitatively distinct (i.e., taxonic) or as a point along a dimension. We analyzed the bets made during a 24-month study period by the 4,595 most involved gamblers among a cohort of 48,114 people using an Internet service to gamble on sporting events. We applied two taxometric procedures (i.e., MAMBAC and MAXCOV) to three indicators of betting behavior: total money lost, total number of bets, and total money wagered. The results fail to provide support for the view that the most involved Internet sports gamblers include a distinct category of gamblers. More research is necessary to clarify the similar features of recreational and extreme gamblers and the dimensions that scientists can use to measure these behaviors. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for clinical, research, and public policy activities. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures and 4 footnotes.)

This paper reports the underlying structure of the demographic and clinical characteristics of level 3 (i.e., pathological) Korean casino gamblers. The participants reported their gambling behavior and clinical characteristics known to be associated with gambling problems (e.g., alcohol use problems, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and impulsivity). Factor analysis identified three domains underlying level 3 gambling: emotional instability, reward sensitivity/drive, and behavioral expression. A cluster analysis identified that the "Reward sensitivity/drive" and the "Behavioral expression" were determinant factors for characterizing clusters, while the "Emotional instability" was considered as a general factor contributing to level 3 gambling. Discriminant analysis using the composite values correctly classified 95% of the participants among three clusters. These results suggest that Korean level 3 gambling is not a unidimensional disorder, but instead a multidimensional phenomenon.

Psychiatric comorbidity likely contributes to driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol among repeat offenders. This study presents one of the first descriptions of the prevalence and comorbidity of psychiatric disorders among repeat DUI offenders in treatment. Participants included all consenting eligible admissions (N=729) to a 2-week inpatient treatment facility for court-sentenced repeat DUI offenders (i.e., offenders electing treatment in place of prison time) from April 17, 2005, to April 23, 2006. Participants completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, which assessed the following disorders using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994): alcohol use and drug use, bipolar, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress, intermittent explosive, conduct, attention deficit, nicotine dependence, pathological gambling, and major depressive. Repeat DUI offenders evidenced higher lifetime and 12-month prevalence of alcohol use and drug use disorders, conduct disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and bipolar disorder compared with the general population. Almost half qualified for lifetime diagnoses of both addiction (i.e., alcohol, drug, nicotine, and/or gambling) and a psychiatric disorder. Lifetime and past-year comorbidity rates were higher among participants than in the general population. These results suggest that clinicians should consider multimorbidity within DUI treatment protocols.

Gambling on college and professional sports and the influence of attending colleges with differing levels of "sports interest" were examined among athletes, sports fans, and other students (N = 10,559) at 119 colleges in the United States using multilevel statistical analysis. Athletes and fans reported more sports gambling compared to other students, with no differences between athletes and fans. Male students were more likely to gamble than female students, but gender did not moderate the relationship between athletic participation and sports gambling. Students attending schools with a greater "sports interest" were more likely to gamble on college sports after adjusting for individual characteristics. Athletes, sports fans, and students attending schools with high "sports interest" are appropriate targets for prevention efforts. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The authors report findings from the first national survey of gambling among college students. They collected information from 10,765 students attending 119 scientifically selected colleges included in the 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), which indicated that 42% of responding students gambled in the last school year and 2.6% gambled weekly or more frequently. These findings contradict the widely held opinion based on previous studies that gambling is prevalent among college students. Previous studies used convenience samples that might have overestimated the risk for gambling problems. Male students and students of legal age ([greater than or equal to] 21 y) were more likely than others to gamble. Availability of gambling measured by the number of types of gambling venues located in the schools' states, influenced their decisions to gamble. The concordance of characteristics associated with both gambling and binge drinking suggested a disposition to take risks that is independent of the risk objects. (Contains 3 tables.)