RGC RESEARCH

  Gambling And Problem Gambling Among Older Adults In Ontario
  Author: Wiebe, Jamie; Single, Eric; Falkowski-Ham, Agata; Mun, Phil;
  Source: RGC; CCSA
  Published: Nov. 01, 2004
  Description: This report presents survey results from the 2001 Prevalence Study, but narrows its focus to Ontario adults 60 years and over. Results suggest that gambling and subsequently, problem gambling, is less prevalent among adults over 60 compared to the general population. A majority of older adults (73.5%) had participated in some type of gambling activity in the past year, with the most popular activity being lotteries (27.8%). Weekly participation rates for this age group were well below three per cent. Patterns suggest that older adults tend to gravitate to chance-based gambling with low personal engagement but high potential payout. The most common benefit attributed to gambling was winning money (33.9%), but gambling also appears to serve an important social function. The vast majority (93.6%) did not experience any gambling-related problems, with 2.1% having moderate to severe problems.

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