Is Your Gambling A Problem?

Take this simple self-test1 to evaluate your gambling behavior. It is important to note that this self-test is not a diagnosis and DOES NOT replace a face-to-face evaluation with a trained gambling treatment professional. All information is kept strictly confidential. Your answers may be analyzed statistically for research purposes only.

All Fields Required

  1. Have there ever been periods lasting 2 weeks or longer when you spent a lot of time thinking about your gambling experiences, planning out future gambling ventures or bets, or thinking about ways of getting money to gamble with?
  2. Have there ever been periods when you needed to gamble with increasing amounts of money or with larger bets than before in order to get the same feeling of excitement?
  3. Have you ever felt restless or irritable when trying to stop, cut down, or control your gambling?
  4. Have you tried and not succeeded in stopping, cutting down, or controlling your gambling three or more times in your life?
  5. Have you ever gambled to escape from personal problems, or to relieve uncomfortable feelings such as guilt, anxiety, helplessness, or depression?
  6. Has there ever been a period when, if you lost money gambling one day, you would often return another day to get even?
  7. Have you lied to family members, friends, or others about how much you gamble, and/or about how much money you lost on gambling, on at least three occasions?
  8. Have you ever written a bad check or taken money that didn't belong to you from family members, friends, or anyone else in order to pay for your gambling?
  9. Has your gambling ever caused serious or repeated problems in your relationships with any of your family members or friends? Or, has your gambling ever caused you problems at work or at school?
  10. Have you ever needed to ask family members, friends, a lending institution, or anyone else to loan you money or otherwise bail you out of a desperate money situation that was largely caused by your gambling?

Demographic Information (Optional)
Please provide some basic information about yourself. Again, all information you provide is kept strictly confidential and is used only for research purposes.

  1. What is your age?






  2. What is your gender?

  3. What is your race/ethnicity?





  4. Do you gamble on? (Check all that apply)







  5. Have you gambled at work or school?

  6. Ever use the internet to gamble?

1About the screen:
The NORC Diagnostic Screen for Gambling Problems-Self-Administered (NODS-SA) was developed by staff from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The instrument is a modification of the NODS, a diagnostic instrument based on the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV criteria for Pathological Gambling. Please note that while the NODS has been tested and shown to be reliable and valid for use in the general population (see Gerstein et al. 1999), the NODS-SA has not yet been fully validated.

Gerstein, D.R., Volberg, R.A., Toce, M.T., Harwood, H., Johnson, R.A., Buie, T., Christiansen, E., Chuchro, L., Cummings, W., Engelman, L., Hill, M.A., Hoffmann, J., Larison, C., Murphy, S.A., Palmer, A., Sinclair, S., & Tucker, A. 1999, Gambling Impact and Behavior Study: Report to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, NORC at the University of Chicago (the NORC final report can be permanently accessed at http://cloud9.norc.uchicago.edu/dlib/ngis.htm).