The Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico, which is funded by New Mexico’s 14 gaming tribes, has sponsored a study on problem gambling to be conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, which does work for federal agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and whose mission is to improve public health, safety and welfare.
The nonprofit institute will be paid $292,000 to conduct the study, which will look at the gaming behavior of the state’s residents—including adolescents and adults—and how much problem gaming there has been since the last study was done, more than a decade ago. Such data is considered very important in fighting this particular mental health disorder. Problem gambling, is a disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.
It will also look at factors that increase and decrease risk and zero in on racial and ethnic groups, sexual minorities, members of the military, college students and people whose housing situation is unstable.
When the last study, which was also funded by the Responsible Gaming Association, was done in 2006, it estimated that up to 15,000 women and 24,000 men were compulsive gamblers. Thousands of others were estimated to be at risk.
The study should be completed by early 2020 at the latest.
The tribes’ tribal state gaming compacts obligate them to spend a percentage of their revenues on the prevention and treatment of compulsive gambling. In 2016, they spent $1.8 million.
