CT: Spectrum Gaming Report #8

Financial

Scientific literature associates problem gambling with the following financial troubles:51, 52

• large credit-card debts
  second or
  even third mortgages
  illegal loans
  formal and/or informal loans
  loss of rent or mortgage funds
  eviction
  homelessness
  misuse
  of retirement funds
  bankruptcy
  poverty

Sometimes, gamblers commit criminal acts to finance their gambling or pay gambling debts. 53,54

Our telephone survey compared the lifetime gambling habits of problem gamblers with those of non-problem gamblers:

62 percent gambled until their last dollar was gone compared to 12 percent for non-problem gamblers
29 percent gambled to pay off debts compared to 4 percent for non-problegamblers
13 percent sold possessions to finance gambling compared to 1 percent for non-gamblers
26 percent borrowed to finance gambling compared to 1 percent for non-gamblers

– page 58 Spectrum Gaming Group (SGG) “Gambling in
Connecticut” 2009

Bankruptcies
The federal bankruptcy forms used in Connecticut are of limited assistance because they do not indicate whether problem gambling was a factor. A problem gambler may have used a credit card or even a home equity line of credit, for example, to finance his or her gambling habit. The petition would not say whether such debt was gambling related.
Nonetheless, several bankruptcy lawyers in Connecticut told us that problem
gambling has indeed had an impact on bankruptcy filings, but quantifying that
impact would be difficult.

Attorney David F. Falvey, who has one of the largest consumer bankruptcy law practices in eastern Connecticut, said while it was rare for gambling to have played a factor in bankruptcy petitions prior to casinos, it is commonplace today.
– page 59 Spectrum Gaming Group (SGG)
“Gambling in Connecticut” 2009

The survey commissioned by Spectrum Gaming Group indicates that the bankruptcy rate for probable pathological gamblers was as high as 20 percent, five times the rate for non-problem gamblers. Another study of Gamblers Anonymous members found that 22 percent declared bankruptcy.

– page 63 Spectrum Gaming Group (SGG) “Gambling in Connecticut” 2009

The Spectrum Gaming Report prepared for the CT DOSR is availble on the United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts web site. It's worth reading.