Abstract
BACKGROUND: Gambling can lead to the development of a gambling disorder, referred to as problem or pathological gambling. Research shows a relationship between the level of the general population's participation in gambling (gambling participation) and the extent of problem gambling.
AIMS: The aim of the article is to summarise the results of (adult) population surveys focusing on the gambling participation carried out in the Czech Republic. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY: Analysis of data from questionnaire survey on a randomly selected sample of the general population and several omnibus studies of quota samples of the Czech population aged 15-64.
SAMPLE: General population surveys carried out by the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction in 2012-2014: National Survey on Substance Use 2012 (N=2,134), Prevalence of Drug Use among the Czech Population 2012, 2013, and 2014 (N=854, N=868, and N=870 respectively), and Citizen Survey on Attitudes Towards Health and Healthy Lifestyles 2012, 2013, and 2014 (N=1,466, N=1,456, and N=1,466 respectively). RESULTS: Participation in gambling activities at least once in their lifetime was reported by about one half of the Czech population (over 60% of the men and 40% of the women), with one third engaging in gambling in the last 12 months.
Gambling experience mostly involves lotteries and scratch cards (16-17% in the last 12 months). Gambling activities other than lotteries in the last 12 months were reported by 21-22% of the population (about 30% of the men and 10% of the women).
Playing on electronic gaming machines (slot machines) in the last 12 months was reported by about 6-8%, participation in fixed-odds betting and online gambling by 10-15%. CONCLUSIONS: Recent trends show an increasing prevalence of current gambling in the general population across all age groups.
This significant increase involves especially online gambling among young males.