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According to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in The Archives of General Psychiatry, the younger a person is when they begin to gamble, the more likely they are to develop either psychiatric or substance abuse problems. 
The study included 235 adolescents who gambled in the past year, 151 adult gamblers who began gambling as adolescents and gambled in the past year, and 204 gamblers who did not begin gambling until they were adults. The data was compared with 299 adolescents and 187 adults who are not gamblers. Results showed that adolescent and young gamblers were more likely than non-gambling peers to report alcohol use and abuse and drug use and abuse. Early-onset adult gamblers had higher rates of alcohol and drug use and abuse than their non-gambling peers. Elevated rates of alcohol use were observed in adult-onset gamblers when compared to adult nongamblers.
It is estimated that 68 percent of the U.S. adult population gambled legally in the past year, and, although most adults gamble responsibly, about nine million are classified as problem gamblers and another three million as pathological gamblers. Approximately 50 percent to 90 percent of youths aged 12 to 17-years-old reported gambling within the past year, although gambling is largely illegal among adolescents. Pathological adult gambling is associated with substance use problems, depression, psychiatric treatment, poor health, arrest and incarceration. These same problems are found in adolescents who gamble heavily.
This is probably the first study comparing adolescent, early-onset adult, and adult-onset gamblers in terms of psychiatric health and gambling attitudes and behaviors. More studies are needed to understand the impact of gambling on youth and to replicate the initial findings of this study.
National Council on Problem Gambling
Recent research on gambling
Pharmacologic Approaches to the Treatment of Pathological Gambling
Gamblers Anonymous
9:48:06 AM 
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