Pathologic gambling is defined as a chronic and progressive failure to resist impulses to gamble accompanied by gambling behavior that compromises or damages personal, family, or vocational pursuits. The prevalence of pathologic gambling in the adult American population is estimated to be between 1 and 3% (review by Eisen et al., 1998).
Comings et al. (2001) noted that some form of gambling is legal in all but 2 states in the U.S., and gambling on the Internet is available to anyone with a computer regardless of the local laws. They stated that as access to gambling has increased, there has been a corresponding increase in the frequency of addiction to gambling, known as pathologic gambling. [from
OMIM]