Compulsive gambling by women grows

SALEM, Ore. — Maryann started gambling 10 years ago, playing video poker machines in hotel restaurants in Oregon as she traveled for her job.

"It got so any place I would see a lottery sign and that was a restaurant or other place that was comfortable, I would play," says the woman, who is in her 40s.

She figures she lost $60,000 on video poker before admitting she had a problem and enrolling in a gambling-addiction treatment program.

Maryann, who doesn't want her last name used, is among a growing number of women across the nation who are getting hooked on gambling.

A state agency that tracks gambling addiction says compulsive female gamblers in Oregon outnumber compulsive male gamblers 32,000 to 29,000, an estimate based on results of a statewide survey.

Nationwide, men make up two-thirds of problem gamblers. But that may be changing in states where video gambling is no farther away than a corner deli or tavern.

Video gambling machines have particular appeal to women, said Rachel Volberg, a Massachusetts researcher who has conducted studies of problem gambling.

"The games are a lot less intimidating for women to play," Volberg said. "You don't have to sit at a card table and have men making jokes about 'the little woman learning how to gamble.' "

Oregon is one of nine states that allow games such as video poker and electronic keno in bars, taverns and other retail outlets apart from casinos.

The National Council on Problem Gambling says there's been an uptick in compulsive gambling by women in those states with widespread "convenience" gambling.

"As electronic gaming devices spread throughout the country, we are seeing greater numbers of women with gambling problems," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the Washington-based group.

Part of the reason for that is that the games often are located in brightly lit, attractive places such as coffee shops, delis and bowling alleys — not just in smoke-filled bars and taverns, Whyte said.

"Women feel comfortable in these places," he said.

Few states with widely available video gambling have conducted studies to track rates of compulsive gambling among women, Volberg said.

But officials in several of those states said there's no doubt that a "feminization" of gambling is taking place.