Successful Aging and Gambling

Using a sample of 449 Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada, residents ages 55 and older, the authors examine predictors of past-year and lifetime risk for problem gambling behavior. They examine the salience of gambling opportunities for the respondents' decision to move to Las Vegas and whether they currently gamble as a significant part of their recreation. Bivariate analyses show the importance of gambling opportunities for predicting at-risk status. Logistic regression analyses demonstrate that those who currently use gambling as a significant part of their recreation are 4 times more likely than others to be at risk. Furthermore, respondents who primarily play video poker are twice as likely as others to be at risk. Respondents' race, income, and length of time living in Las Vegas also predict at-risk behavior. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and their relationships to the aging, gambling, and problem gambling literatures. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2007.]