NCJ Number
188880
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 473-491
Date Published
June 2001
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This Canadian study shows that youth gambling is a formidable social problem that draws on those who can least afford it, is partly derived from a general disempowerment from society, and as a consequence is connected with risk-taking behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse.
Abstract
Data for this study were taken from the 1996 Saskatchewan Youth Attitude Survey of 2,605 high school youth in the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada. The representative sample was obtained by stratifying the Province into geographical areas and drawing random samples of both urban and rural schools within each area and selecting classes at random within each school. The two primary racial and/or ethnic groups in the Province are Aboriginal and Caucasian. The Youth Attitude Survey investigated several dimensions of youth gambling. The original questions measured how often the respondents gambled in 1 year; the gambling forms include bingo, VLT's, Sport Select, casinos, and personal games. This analysis focused on bingo, video lottery terminals (VLTs), and Sport Select only; these are the main forms of gambling through which public revenue is obtained from youth. VLT's are essentially electronic slot machines that respond instantaneously to the insertion of money. Based on the findings, this study concludes that youth gambling is a form of regressive taxation that exploits those who are most vulnerable because of their socioeconomic marginality and their feelings of relative powerlessness. 6 tables and 34 references