Gambling, Pathological

Gambling is a common feature of American life as a form of recreation. In addition, it has become an expedient source of revenue for governments and is an attractive entertainment investment for tourism companies. New technologies make gambling even easier to access. Research has demonstrated that the number of gamblers rose throughout the end of the 20th century in the United States.

Due to the prevalence of gambling, many individuals develop a pattern of severe problem gambling called pathological gambling (PG). In 1980, PG was first introduced as a disorder of impulse by the American Psychiatric Association in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorder (DSM). The newest edition of this manual, DSM-IV-TR, provides a widely accepted definition of PG as ...