This State Has the Worst Gambling Addiction
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Whenever legalizing gambling is discussed, it becomes a seriously contentious issue, for obvious reasons—fun and games can quickly spiral out of control into addiction. Gambling may not be legal in many states, but its addiction is a fairly sizable and expensive problem that affects over 2% of the population and had a total social cost of $7 billion in 2013, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Certain states, however, have it worse than others.
According to a recent WalletHub analysis -- which compared 13 metrics that compared "gambling friendliness" with "gambling problem and treatment" -- Nevada, home to Las Vegas, was in fact the worst state in the union for gambling addiction. It was the second most gambling-friendly place and ranked number 12 for gambling problems.
Here is WalletHub's full ranking of all 50 states.
Source: WalletHub
Overall Rank (1 = Most Addicted) | State | Total Score | ‘Gambling-Friendliness’ Rank | ‘Gambling Problem & Treatment’ Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nevada | 57.00 | 2 | 12 |
2 | South Dakota | 56.62 | 1 | 28 |
3 | Mississippi | 48.94 | 13 | 1 |
4 | Montana | 48.75 | 3 | 38 |
5 | Oklahoma | 46.70 | 4 | 31 |
6 | West Virginia | 45.15 | 7 | 11 |
7 | New Jersey | 44.66 | 9 | 10 |
8 | Oregon | 43.86 | 5 | 38 |
9 | Delaware | 40.84 | 6 | 36 |
10 | North Dakota | 38.96 | 8 | 37 |
11 | Louisiana | 37.76 | 12 | 14 |
12 | Idaho | 37.51 | 11 | 19 |
13 | Maryland | 36.56 | 24 | 5 |
14 | Tennessee | 36.48 | 25 | 4 |
15 | Wyoming | 34.67 | 16 | 18 |
16 | Rhode Island | 34.63 | 15 | 23 |
17 | Ohio | 33.08 | 17 | 25 |
18 | South Carolina | 32.88 | 28 | 7 |
19 | Colorado | 32.23 | 14 | 34 |
20 | Connecticut | 31.69 | 19 | 27 |
21 | Illinois | 31.24 | 41 | 3 |
22 | New Mexico | 31.21 | 10 | 49 |
23 | Virginia | 31.13 | 20 | 29 |
24 | Pennsylvania | 30.98 | 21 | 30 |
25 | Massachusetts | 30.98 | 18 | 32 |
26 | New Hampshire | 30.88 | 30 | 9 |
27 | Hawaii | 30.55 | 49 | 2 |
28 | California | 28.84 | 22 | 33 |
29 | Missouri | 27.93 | 44 | 6 |
30 | Georgia | 27.16 | 33 | 15 |
31 | Arkansas | 26.91 | 32 | 17 |
32 | Minnesota | 26.80 | 36 | 13 |
33 | New York | 26.76 | 23 | 46 |
34 | Iowa | 26.03 | 26 | 42 |
35 | Michigan | 25.53 | 27 | 41 |
36 | Texas | 25.05 | 47 | 8 |
37 | Vermont | 23.07 | 40 | 19 |
38 | Washington | 22.45 | 34 | 43 |
39 | Maine | 22.19 | 43 | 24 |
40 | Florida | 22.00 | 35 | 44 |
41 | North Carolina | 21.55 | 46 | 16 |
42 | Alaska | 20.92 | 45 | 19 |
43 | Kentucky | 20.63 | 31 | 48 |
44 | Wisconsin | 20.32 | 39 | 35 |
45 | Indiana | 19.59 | 29 | 50 |
46 | Kansas | 19.40 | 38 | 45 |
47 | Arizona | 19.16 | 37 | 47 |
48 | Alabama | 19.13 | 42 | 38 |
49 | Nebraska | 18.60 | 48 | 26 |
50 | Utah | 18.18 | 49 | 19 |