Problem gambling has the potential to undermine a youth’s life in much the same way that substance abuse can. Negative consequences commonly associated with problem gambling include financial problems, strained or failed relationships, poor performance at school or work, criminal behaviour, preoccupation with gambling, depression, anxiety and overall lack of progress towards goals.

Children often start gambling with family members, especially parents and grandparents. They may purchase lottery tickets with parents, play cards and bingo for money with relatives, or receive lottery and scratch tickets as presents.

To date, research on the prevalence of youth gambling has typically consisted of one-time surveys of a single province, state or other specific population, such as a city. There have been few studies that have surveyed the same sample more then once.

Starting in 1999, however, the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS), which is conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, began asking students in grades 7 to 13 (7 to 12 since 2005) about gambling problems using the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA).

The SOGS-RA defines youth who score 2 or more on the survey of 6 questions as at risk for some gambling problem. In 2005, 4.5% of students met the criteria. This represents about 45,800 Ontario students.

Among those indicating that they gambled in the past year, the majority (86.3%) report that the largest amount of money gambled was less than $50. Approximately 7% reported gambling between $50 and $99, 2.5% reported between $100 and $199 and another 4.4% reported spending $200 or more.

The 2005 OSDUS report also found that males are more likely than females to be at risk for a gambling problem (7.2% vs. 1.8%).