A recent scientific study in the Netherlands has concluded that local gamblers of Moroccan or Turkish descent suffer addiction to gaming more often than do gamblers with a Dutch or other Western European background. Gamblers whose heritage is Antillean, Surinamese or Chinese figured somewhere in the middle.

The study was ordered by the Justice Ministry's Center for Scientific Research and Documentation and performed by the Center for Addiction Research.

A total of 544 interviews were conducted with frequent gamblers of various ethnicities. Of those interviewed, 181 were from non-European backgrounds.

The Moroccan and Turkish gamblers were three to 11 times more likely to be addicted than were Dutch gamblers. Those from the Antilles were two to five times more susceptible, with Chinese and Surinamese one to three times more.

The researchers concluded that demographic factors such as gender, age, income and education play a more important role in gambling addiction, but that the heritage of a person can be a predictor of the depth of the problem.

By GGB Staff

Staff writers for Global Gaming Business magazine. Las Vegas, Nevada.