A new study reveals a strong link between alcohol dependency and gambling problems, Reuters reported.
According to researchers at the Research Institute on Addictions at the University at Buffalo, N.Y., adults with an alcohol addiction are 23 times more likely to have a gambling problem than those who do not drink.
"If you’re in trouble with alcohol, the odds you’re also in trouble with gambling increase enormously," said lead author Dr. John W. Welte. "Most of that correlation is that problem behaviors tend to cluster in the same people."
The study also found factors that identified which racial and ethnic groups were more likely to have a gambling problem. "Gambling is more common among lower socioeconomic people, blacks and Hispanics, than among whites," Welte said. "That’s not true of alcohol and drug pathology necessarily. It’s a demographic pattern that’s unique to gambling."
The study was based on a nationwide telephone survey of 2,638 adults conducted between August 1999 and October 2000. The survey asked participants about their personal experience with gambling.
The study is published in a recent issue of the Journal of Studies of Alcohol.
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