The 2022 Ohio Gambling Survey recently released highlights for the counties in the Mahoning Valley. 

The survey shows that 26.7% of the adult population are at risk gamblers.

Broken down, 18% or 31,803 adults are considered low-risk gamblers, 5.5% or 9,664 adults are a moderate-risk and 3.2% or 5,644 adults are considered high-risk or problem gamblers.

Compared with the rest of the state, Mahoning County has more low-risk and problem gamblers - the state has 10.9% or 991,513 adults at low-risk and 2.8% or 254,729 adults considered at-risk.

For context, there are 9,193,508 adults in the state of Ohio, while there are 180,235 in Mahoning County.

The three areas most prevalent in gambling for Mahoning County compared with the rest of Ohio is as follows:

• Lottery: 57.1% Mahoning County, 49.8% Ohio,
• Casino: 33.7% Mahoning County, 27.1% Ohio,
• Sports: 30% Mahoning County, 31.1% Ohio.

Overall, Hispanics had the highest percentage of at-risk gamblers with 48.1%, while African Americans were 27.7% and whites were 25.2%.

One of the more surprising statistics is that 18 to 24 year-olds had the highest percentage of at-risk gamblers at 51.8%. This is followed by those between the ages of 25 and 44 with 28.1% and 45 and 64 at 26.2%.

The most common reasons for gambling for at-risk gamblers were family history at 25.8%, alcohol and drugs at 27.4% and intoxication at 16%.