General Underage Gambling Data

2022

• • 23%* of students said they have gambled one or more times in the last year (OASAS, 2022).
  • 30% of NYS students said it was easy to get involved in gambling (OASAS, 2022).

  Of Students Grade 7-12 Who Gamble:

  • 65% said their preferred time to gamble was on the weekends (OASAS, 2022).
  • The types of gambling they participated include (OASAS, 2022):
    • 52% Bingo/Raffles
    • 45% Games of Skill (pool, darts, basketball, bowling or other)
    • 41% Lottery
    • 37% Cards
    • 35% Video games
    • 21% Fantasy sports or sports
    • 10% slot machines
    • 8.3% animals (dogs, horses)
    • 5% at casino
    • 4% Bolito

2021

• 23%* of students said they have gambled one or more times in the last year (NYSED, 2021).

2015

• 39% have gambled in the past year (OASAS, 2015). Most Common Gambling Activities Among NYS Youth are:
  • 26% played lottery, lotto or scratch offs,
  • 4% bet money on raffles or charity games, and
  • 5% bet money on sports.

• 30% of youth who gamble say they started at age 10 or younger (OASAS, 2015).This is in comparison to:
  • 9% first use of alcohol at age 10 or younger, 
  • 8% first cigarette at age 10 or younger,
  • 6% first pain reliever at age 10 or younger, and
  • 5% first use of marijuana at age 10 or younger.

• 85% of youth say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to gamble (OASAS, 2015).This is in comparison to:
  • 97% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to smoke tobacco,
  • 97% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to use a prescription drug not prescribed to you,
  • 96% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to steal something,
  • 95% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to 1-2 drinks daily,
  • 93% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to smoke marijuana, and 
  • 89% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to pick a fight.
• The frequent youth gamblers are more likely to report the presence of risk factors than non-gamblers (OASAS, 2015).
• The frequent youth gamblers reported fewer protective factors than non-youth gamblers (OASAS, 2015).

2011

• 60% of 14–15 year-old respondents have gambled (Welte, 2011).
• Serious gambling involvement rises in teens (Welte, 2011).
• Problem gambling had a much higher co-morbidity with conduct disorder if it started early in life (Welte, 2011).
• Gambling becomes prevalent at a much earlier age than drinking (Welte, 2011).

Underage Co-Occurring SUD Data

2015

• 85% of youth say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to gamble (OASAS, 2015).  This is in comparison to:
  • 97% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to smoke tobacco,
  • 97% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to use a prescription drug not prescribed to you,
  • 95% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to 1-2 drinks daily, and
  • 93% say their parents feel it’s wrong for them to smoke marijuana.
    

*View Co-Occurring SUD data summary*

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Underage Sports Betting Data

2019

• 37% of a Minnesota adolescents reported prior-year sports gambling (Winters and Derevensky, 2019).
• 30% of a Montreal adolescents reported prior-year sports gambling (Winters and Derevensky, 2019).
• 7.3% and 5.1% of Ohio high school students reported wagering money on fantasy sports and DFS respectively, at least once in their lifetimes (Winters and Derevensky, 2019).

*View Sports Betting data summary*

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Underage Gambling Risk Factors

Family risk factors

• Parenting: no clear rules or monitoring (OASAS, 2015).
• Conflict: arguments, insults, yelling (OASAS, 2015).
• Antisocial: use/deal drugs (OASAS, 2015).

Peer risk factors

• Peer attitudes favorable to drug use (OASAS, 2015).
• Friends use drugs (OASAS, 2015).

Individual risk factor

• Low commitment to school (OASAS, 2015).
• Depression (OASAS, 2015).

Underage Gambling Protective Factors

Community protective factor

• Community opportunities (i.e. sports, scouting, 4H, etc.) (OASAS, 2015).

School protective factors

• Peer pro-social: clubs in and out of school (OASAS, 2015).
• School rewards (i.e. teacher praise) (OASAS, 2015).
• Classroom autonomy (OASAS, 2015).

Family protective factors

• Family rewards: parents notice and praise (OASAS, 2015).
• Family involvement (i.e. family decisions) (OASAS, 2015).
• Family attachment (OASAS, 2015).

Individual protective factors

• Social skills (OASAS, 2015).
• Moral order (i.e. not okay to cheat or steal) (OASAS, 2015).