Data from the NESARC-I sample estimated the lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV pathological gambling as 0.4%37, which was found to vary across racial and ethnic groups23. Lifetime prevalence of pathological gambling Blacks was 0.9%, which was significantly higher than among Whites at 0.4% and Hispanics was 0.3%23. The lifetime prevalence among Native Americans and Asians combined was 0.6%, which did not differ from any of the other ethnic groups. Lifetime prevalence of disordered gambling (defined as 3 or more DSM-IV criteria) in Native Americans/Asians (2.3%) and Blacks (2.2%) was almost twice the rate in Whites (1.2%) and Hispanics (1.0%)30. Past-year prevalence of disordered gambling also was significantly higher among Blacks (1.0%) than Whites (0.5%), and Whites than Hispanics (0.4%)56,57. These NESARC-I estimates are generally consistent with data from the 2001–2003 NCS-R, which estimated the lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV pathological gambling as 0.6% and found Blacks were 8.4 times more likely to have pathological gambling than non-Hispanic Whites58.
