The figures were presented to the Millennium Democrat lawmaker Lee Jung-il, a member of the National Assembly's Committee of Agriculture, Forestry, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. According to the statistics, 9.3 percent of Korean adults are addicted to gambling, and 49 percent show a lack of will power, 32 percent suffer problems with relationships, 39 percent are unable to pay off debts, 16 percent are unemployed and 14 percent are violent toward their spouses.

Also, the committee was also told that 3.8 percent of Korean adults have severely lost their sense of control and have a high possibility of endangering themselves, their families or co-workers, and thus are in need of immediate medical treatment.

This percentage of gambling addicts among adults is four to five times higher than that of other nations such as the United States (1-2 percent), Canada (2.6 percent) and Australia (2.1 percent). The ratio is even higher that that of the U.S. state known for gambling, Nevada, which is 6-8 percent.

The symptoms for gambling addictiveness are mostly found in people who use legal gambling services. Those who bet on bicycle racing, horse racing, and casinos make up 44.4 percent of the total, followed by Internet gambling at 30.9 percent and cards at 19.85 percent.

By Park Jong-se (jspark@chosun.com), english.chosun.com

Theft of money from the elderly by family members or close associates was increasing and accounted for about half of "elder abuse" cases, Mr Dickerson said.

The survey, conducted Dec. 11-14, 2003, found 49% of Americans saying they had bought a state lottery ticket in the past 12 months, somewhat lower than the percentage measured in the 1990s.

Louisiana, often thought of as running behind the curve on almost everything, has the nation's only two state-supported residential treatment centers for problem gamblers.

One study found that 80 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 had gambled in the previous year.