Beyond the limits of recreation: social costs of gambling in Southern Nevada

This study seeks to find the dollar value of social costs of gambling. The authors use data from a survey of 99 members of Gamblers Anonymous (GA) groups in southern Nevada. The GA members were asked many questions about their behavior while they were active gamblers, such as how often they missed work because of gambling, how much they borrowed because of gambling, how much they stole because of gambling and their experiences with the judicial system and welfare systems because of gambling. Societal costs of each behavior were calculated and annualized. It was determined that each of the compulsive gamblers imposed social costs of $19,711 on others in southern Nevada. Of these costs, $1,428 (7.2%) were governmental costs, while $6,616 (33.6%) represented economic losses for southern Nevada. Using estimates of the numbers of pathological and problem gamblers in Nevada, it was determined that the overall social costs of compulsive and problem gambling in southern Nevada ranged from $314 million to $545 million per year.