gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

In the combined 2008/2009 data set, a total of 52/4005 people (13.0% + 3.3% with a 95%
confidence interval) indicated that their gambling had caused them financial problems in the
past 12 months. Out of an estimated adult population of 2,780,004, this projects to roughly
36,095 Albertans.
Borrowed Money or Sold Possessions
A total of 403 PPGM problem gamblers were identified in the combined 2008 and 2009 General
Population, Targeted, and Online population surveys out of a total sample size of 15,166. One
hundred and six of these individuals (26.3% + 4.3%) reported they had borrowed money or sold
possessions to gamble, with an average amount borrowed equaling $7,776 (median = $500).
The average prevalence rate of problem gambling in 2008/2009 is 2.6%, which means there
would be approximately 72,456 problem gamblers (+ 13,622 with a 95% confidence interval) in
the Alberta population in each of these years. A 26.3% prevalence rate of borrowing money or
selling possessions to gamble among these individuals would represent about 19,058
individuals a year. Multiplied by $7,776 would produce an aggregate value of borrowed money
or sold possessions of $148,195,008 per year. Some economists refer to this as ‘abused
dollars’.
Consumer Insolvencies
Of 403 PPGM problem gamblers identified in the combined 2008 and 2009 General Population,
Targeted, and Online population surveys, 11 individuals reported declaring bankruptcy in the
previous 12 months because of gambling, which represents a 2.7% + 1.6% prevalence rate of
bankruptcy among these individuals. Again, assuming 72,456 problem gamblers in the general
Alberta population, this would represent about 1,956 bankruptcies a year.
Another source of information on bankruptcies concerns data collected by the Office of the
Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada (OSB). This agency keeps track of the number of
bankruptcies, consumer proposals, and total insolvencies in each economic region within each
province, with this data being available from 1987 to the present time. In Canada an insolvent
person 81 can attempt to negotiate a settlement between himself/herself and his/her creditors
instead of filing bankruptcy. This procedure is defined as a ‘consumer proposal’ and is added to
the number of formal bankruptcies to arrive at the total number of insolvencies each year.
(From 2007 to 2009 the ratio of bankruptcies to consumer proposals was 4.5 to 1). OSB also
distinguishes between personal or ‘consumer’ insolvencies versus business insolvencies.
However, this is somewhat of an artificial distinction when one considers that OSB reports that
72% of business bankruptcies in 2004 represented the failure of single proprietorships.
81 Defined by OSB as someone unable to pay their debts as they become due or having liabilities that exceed the
total value of assets.
178