Gambling behavior of juvenile offenders in Louisiana

The purpose of this paper was to determine the (1) frequency of and (2) types of prearrest gambling (3) prevalence of pathological gambling and (4) the associations of after school activities and gambling related symptoms among juvenile offenders in Louisiana, compared to a contemporaneous school sample. A gambling survey was administered to 343 (jail) and 1293 (prison) offenders, ages 10-19 and compared to random sample of 12,036 Louisiana students in sixth through twelfth grades. Results showed that juvenile offenders gambled more frequently than the school sample on every gambling activity. Juvenile offenders (20.5%) were more likely to be classified as pathological gamblers than students (3.9%). Thirteen per cent of the juvenile justice sample identified their arrest as gambling related. Pathological gamblers were twice as likely to have had a gambling-related arrest. Pathological gambling may pose a risk factor for incarceration in the juvenile age group. After school activities, including church, employment, and athletics were risk factors for gambling related symptoms in both populations. © Springer Verlag 2006.