Compulsive gambling has legal consequences in all groups of society from youth to senior citizens, and across all backgrounds. 

The effects of compulsive gambling often result in legal consequences, which do not seem to differ across age groups or social-economic levels, or ethnic backgrounds.  Simply when a gambler becomes desperate for money, they frequently turn to illegal activities.  Such acts place a hardship on our legal and prison systems given the frequency of theft, embezzlement, fraud, and other crimes committed. More often than not, police, probation, and correction officers, as well as attorneys, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and the criminal justice system as a whole are not familiar with the mental health disorder of  "pathological gambling" or the impacts resulting from such a diagnosis that lead to crime. To learn more about the American Psychiatric Association’s classification of pathological gambling, see About Compulsive Gambling.

• FCCG prevalence research completed by the University of Florida and Gemini Research has documented that adult problem and compulsive gamblers are almost four times as likely to have been arrested as non-problem gamblers, and adolescents are also more likely to exhibit illegal behavior.
  


• An FCCG study, undertaken by criminal justice researchers, Drs. Louis Lieberman and Mary Cuadrado, within Florida’s juvenile justice system, found that 17% of Florida’s young, ages 11-20, attributed their imprisonment in the facility to gambling, 51% of whom are in need of some type of supportive intervention for a gambling problem. Further, a secondary analysis of a study conducted by the Florida Department of Children and Families among middle and high school students, completed by these same authors, revealed that high-risk gamblers are more likely to engage in other risk-taking behaviors at greater rates and six times more likely to carry a gun within the past year. (To view the Executive Summary of this study and other examinations undertaken by the FCCG, see Research.  For copies of any full report, call the FCCG HelpLine at 888-ADMIT-IT, or email us.



• In an effort to address the link between problem gambling and crime in Florida, in 2005, the FCCG, in partnership with the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, convened a National Think Tank and reported the forum’s proceedings and recommendations in a report. To view a copy of the report’s executive summary, see Research.  To obtain a copy of the full report, call the FCCG’s 24-hour HelpLine at 888-ADMIT-IT, or forward your request via email.



• The FCCG has developed a series of self-help recovery workbooks for gamblers, older adult gamblers, and loved ones. Each series, comprised of seven books, contains one workbook on legal issues, and aids gamblers and others through the entire recovery process. To learn more, be sure to review the FCCG’s A Chance for Change program. To order your free copy, call the FCCG HelpLine at 888-ADMIT-IT.



• The FCCG HelpLine also provides resource referrals to legal experts who can aid callers with gambling related issues.