OBJECTIVES: Youth gambling is an increasing concern in the U.S. As a response, the “Don’t Gamble Away our Future (DGAF)” program has been implemented among children in central Illinois. Our study aims to assess whether this program has a positive impact on trained and untrained children over time through direct training and peer education.

METHODS: This is a secondary analysis using existing panel data that were created by the DGAF program in Illinois from 2005 to 2009. The intervention included interactive PowerPoint presentations and prevention materials in parent packets. Students aged 8 to 18 years were eligible to participate in the intervention and the questionnaire pre-post knowledge tests (total score 0-9). Students in 5^th grade and above also received a gambling behavior screen test using the Modified South Oaks Gambling Screening for Teens (MSOGST) for identifying probable gamblers. After considering subjects as a random effect, multivariable generalized regressions were conducted involving grade, school, gender, year, and number of tests.

RESULTS: A total of 16,262 and 16,421 students completed pre-post tests and MSOGST tests, respectively. Half of them were male. The majority were from senior high school (76%) following by junior high school (13.7), primary school (8.6%), and detention center (1.7%). New participants had lower pre-test scores of gambling knowledge compared to students receiving twice or more times interventions (5.3 versus 5.7 and 5.9 for intervention once versus twice and ≥3 times, respectively, p<0.001 for all), and had relative higher prevalence of probable gambler (9.4% versus 7.9% and 8.8%, p=0.021 and 0.323, respectively). However, for new participants only, their gambling knowledge also increased over time even if they did not directly receive the intervention (p<0.05 for all compared to year of 2005).

CONCLUSIONS: The DGAF program among children in Illinois has demonstrated a positive long-term effectiveness through direct and peer education.