gambling or gaming, betting of money or valuables on, and often participation in, games of chance (some involving degrees of skill). In England and in the United States, gambling was not a common-law crime if conducted privately. Even in colonial America, however, gambling was liable to rankle public opinion because it was often associated with rowdy activities and could produce debtors who would burden society.

In the United States, state laws largely govern gambling. Some states prohibit public wagers or betting by minors, while others allow wagering up to a certain amount. In some states parimutuel betting on horse races at the tracks is legal; several states permit parimutuel betting on dog races and jai alai games, and most states operate or participate in daily and weekly lotteries. Though all of these state-sanctioned forms may conflict with public opinion on the moral and economic worth of gambling, all provide state and local governments with large revenues. The first legalized offtrack betting system (OTB) in the United States opened in New York City in 1971.

Nevada was the first state to sanction many types of gambling, with casinos operating slot machines, card games, and various games of chance. For many years, Nevada (joined in 1978 by Atlantic City, N.J.) was the only place in the United States where casinos were legal; now more than half the states have them. Some states, however, particularly those along the Mississippi River, restrict casino gambling to riverboats (often permanently docked). Following the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, states were required to permit on reservations any type of gambling that was permitted off-reservation. Since that time, tribes throughout the country have opened legal gambling establishments, often greatly enhancing their economy and that of the area where they live, but reservation gambling still produces only a small percentage of all gambling revenues in the country. In the late 1990s, concerns over compulsive gambling (said to affect up to 3% of adult Americans) and the social effects of the mushrooming gambling economy—which had grown by 1,600% since the mid-1970s, with revenues of some $50 billion—brought increased government attention, but gambling revenues have continued to grow in importance to many state budgets.

In recent years, betting on sports such as baseball, basketball, boxing, and football, although illegal in nearly all states, has increased tremendously. Several countries in the Caribbean have established offshore sports betting and on-line casinos, patronized principally by Americans, despite the fact that Internet sports betting is illegal under the federal Wire Wager Act (1994) and all Internet gambling is illegal under many state laws. The World Trade Organization has ruled (2004) that the United States cannot apply its laws to foreign Internet gambling operations, but the United States has not complied with the ruling. Organized sport, although haunted by the memory of the Black Sox scandal of the 1919 World Series and college basketball scandals (1951, 1961), has done little to discourage betting, and instances of professional gamblers attempting to fix the outcome of sporting events still occur. It is also common for network television and newspapers not only to publicize odds but also to employ oddsmaking experts. For sporting events, gambling brokers (popularly, bookies) usually establish two sets of odds, one for each side of the bet, so that they profit no matter what the outcome of the contest.

Bibliography: See E. Bergler, The Psychology of Gambling (1985); F. and S. Barthelme, Double Down (1999); A. Martinez, 24/7 (1999).

Gambling, pathological

Preoccupation with gambling and uncontrollable impulse to gamble, regardless of the problems caused in daily life.

The Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling reported that 61% of the U.S. population engaged in some form of gambling. The group also estimated that there were 1.1 million compulsive gamblers in the United States. While for many people gambling is a form of harmless recreation, for others it is an uncontrollable and all-consuming pursuit, often eclipsing everything else in their life. Some gamblers borrow or steal money when their funds run out; some lose their jobs and homes; and in almost all cases, their relationships with family and friends are aversely affected.

Pathological gambling is defined as a pattern of repeated gambling and preoccupation with gambling. The term was not included in the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1980. Since then psychologists have proposed several theories as to why people gamble. For some, they state, it is a form of risk taking, which may be an inherent personality trait. For many others, it is the lure of a possible financial payoff. Psychologists are still unsure, however, why some gamblers become pathological gamblers. Some psychiatrists have proposed the "disease model," stating that, like alcoholism, gambling is a disease or a sickness of the mind. Behaviorists, on the other hand, see it as a learned, conditioned response . Because gamblers are reinforced intermittently—winning one hand and losing the next—they are motivated to keep playing until they receive a positive reinforcement . Various research studies have shown that any behavior that is tied to partial schedules of reinforcement are extremely difficult to stop.

Pathological gambling often begins in adolescence in males, and somewhat later in females. Individuals with this disorder often experience a progression in their gambling, becoming increasingly preoccupied with gambling, increasing the amounts wagered, and often continuing to gamble despite attempts to stop or control the behavior.

Unfortunately, pathological gambling is often difficult to treat, but there are several treatment options. Perhaps the most widely practiced treatment is group therapy , such as is found in Gambler's Anonymous. Pain aversion therapy has also been used, in which a electric shock is associated with gambling. In another therapy called paradoxical intention, the therapist orders the client to gamble according to a strict schedule, whether the gambler wants to or not.

See also Impulse control disorders

gam·ble / ˈgambəl/ • v. [intr.] play games of chance for money; bet: she was fond of gambling on cards and horses. ∎  [tr.] bet (a sum of money) in such a way: he was gambling every penny he had on the spin of a wheel. ∎ fig. take risky action in the hope of a desired result: the British could only gamble that something would turn up. • n. [usu. in sing.] an act of gambling; an enterprise undertaken or attempted with a risk of loss and a chance of profit or success. DERIVATIVES: gam·bler / -blər/ n.

gamble XVIII. prob. continuing †gamel (XVI) play games, sport, alt. (with assim. to -LE3) of †gamene, early form of GAME vb.

pathological gambling see compulsive gambling .

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