by editor on September 18, 2014 – 10:48

The number of Iowans exhibiting one or more “problem gambling” behaviors has increased to 16 percent, 369,000 people, according to a recently released survey by the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The survey – “Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors” conducted in 2013 by the University of Northern Iowa Center for Social and Behavioral Research – also found one in five adult Iowans (18 percent) had been “negatively affected by gambling behavior of a family member, friend, or someone else they know.”

Nearly 30 percent of Iowans reported “knowing a person with gambling problems,” and 7 percent of state residents have experienced someone in their family having a gambling problem when they were growing up, according to the study.

More than half of state residents – 53 percent – now feel the harm of gambling on society outweigh the benefits. Another 30 percent say the benefits of gambling are equal to the harm it causes. That’s despite the sizeable contribution of more than $200 million to the state from gambling each year, along with the requirement the casinos pay a percent of revenue for distribution to non-profit charitable organization each year.

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