Nearly 7% of Students Report Gambling Problems in Mississippi Study

OXFORD, Miss.: A statewide study found that 6.9% of Mississippi public university students reported some level of gambling problems. Higher gambling risk was associated with greater mood, worry and substance-use symptoms, raising questions about how colleges identify students who may need broader support.

The research surveyed 1,831 students across Mississippi’s eight public universities during fall 2021. About 24.2% reported gambling during the previous year, although researchers cautioned that the study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when gambling access was more restricted than it is today.

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Nearly One in Four Students Reported Gambling

The study published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction used the Problem Gambling Severity Index to assess gambling-related harm. Across the full sample, 5.68% of students were classified as at risk, 0.75% as moderate risk and 0.47% met the study’s problem-gambling threshold.

Among students who gambled, scratch-off tickets were the most commonly reported activity at 46%, followed by slot machines at 30% and lottery tickets at 27.3%. Most gamblers reported participating only a few times during the year, while 56.8% said they spent $50 or less.

Lead author Nicholas McAfee said gambling risk stood out even within a student population already reporting substantial mental-health concerns. “Students who tended to gamble more were more likely to be experiencing greater levels of problems among a sample that was already experiencing plenty,” he said.

Gambling Risk Associated with Mental Health Symptoms

Researchers found that increases in gambling risk were significantly associated with higher levels of mood, worry and substance-use symptoms. The study does not establish that gambling caused those symptoms, and the authors said further research is needed to understand the direction of the relationship.

The researchers also examined whether gambling problems were associated with plans to reduce college enrollment. Higher gambling risk was initially linked with a greater likelihood of moving to part-time study or taking no classes, but those relationships were no longer statistically significant after mood, worry and substance-use symptoms were taken into account.

That finding suggests gambling risk did not independently predict plans to reduce enrollment once students’ wider mental health was considered. The authors instead described a more complex relationship between gambling, psychological symptoms and academic decisions.

Researchers Call for Broader Campus Screening

The study’s authors said colleges could consider incorporating gambling into wider student health screening and intervention programs rather than treating it separately from alcohol, substance use and mental health concerns. They identified campus-wide screening and referral programs as one potential way to recognize overlapping risks earlier.

The findings also come with several limitations. The survey had an 11.4% response rate, covered only public universities and measured students at one point in time. It also recorded intentions to reduce enrollment rather than whether students eventually changed or left their courses.

Researchers said the 2021 timing may also have contributed to lower gambling rates than those found in previous college studies because casinos and sporting events were disrupted during the pandemic and Mississippi did not offer legal online sports betting.

Even with those limitations, the authors concluded that gambling problems may provide another indicator of students experiencing wider health difficulties. Future research will need to determine how gambling and mental-health symptoms develop over time and whether expanding gambling access changes risk levels among college-age adults.

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