The Prevalence of Problematic Gambling Behaviour - a Scandinavian Comparison

For the first time a large scale screening for gambling problems within the adult Danish population has been performed. By applying different tools, i.e. SOGS-R and NODS, it has become possible to compare with the prevalence of problematic gambling behaviour in Norway and Sweden. The result is that the prevalence of at-risk gamblers, problematic gamblers and pathological gamblers is significantly lower in Denmark than in the other Scandinavian countries. This holds for both genders as well as for different age-groups when comparing Denmark and Norway. The variation might be due to national differences in preferences for gambling, access to plays, public policies concerning gambling, etc., which calls for further comparative research.