Gambling use disorders--a public health problem.

The growing availability of state-owned and sponsored gambling has been associated with an increased prevalence of pathological gambling that has been linked to mounting social costs. In 1999 the State of Connecticut generated 811 million dollars from legalized gambling. However, only about one million dollars was allocated to clinical and preventive interventions. In order to strike an effective balance between economic benefits and social costs attributed to the expansion of the gambling industry, states should devote sufficient resources designed to: 1) assess the magnitude of the gambling behavior spectrum; 2) evaluate its social and economic consequences; 3) develop a primary prevention curriculum in schools and a secondary prevention curriculum for youth at high risk, 4) develop outreach programs to increase public awareness of the symptoms of problem/pathological gambling, and 5) provide and/or fund treatment services for problem and pathological gamblers including social service support systems for their families. States should then perform periodic cost-benefit analyses to decide if, when, to what extent, and how to regulate the gambling industry.