Binge gambling behaviors reported by youth in a residential drug treatment setting: a qualitative investigation.

Two focus groups conducted with adolescents and young adults in a residential drug treatment facility yield some intriguing information about binge gambling, a relatively unexplored pattern of pathological gambling. Participants discussed the ways in which binge gambling may occur in relation to their drug habits, as a way to raise funds for the purchase of drugs or alcohol, to pass time when high, or as a substitute form of excessive risk-taking when drugs were not available. Binge gambling may be missed with conventional screening instruments, and it is suggested that gambling questions may need to be rephrased for certain high-risk populations.