Trying to assess for the first time the extent of Pennsylvanians' gambling, a state health department survey last year found more than 40 percent had wagered in some form and about one in six had played slot machines in the prior 12 months.

Fewer than 1 percent of gamblers, however, reported that the practice had caused them personal or financial problems.

Health officials added gambling-related questions during the last half of 2007 to a wide telephone survey that is done of Pennsylvania adults every month, called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The intent was to establish a baseline to assess the impact that Pennsylvania's growing slots casino industry would have on gambling habits and addiction.

Of the 6,600 people 18 and older surveyed from July through December, 43.3 percent said they had gambled in the past 12 months. Among those who gambled, 40.6 percent played slot machines. The survey did not inquire about other types of gambling, or the frequency of it.

At the time of the survey, six slots casinos were open in Pennsylvania, from among a potential 14 that could be operating within a few years. Health department spokeswoman Stacy Kriedeman said officials want to use the state survey to track gambling trends in the future as more casinos open, including those in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The survey found more gambling among those with annual household income above $35,000 -- 48.1 percent, compared with 38.1 percent for those below that threshold. It also found more gamblers among smokers than non-smokers, by a 50.8 percent to 41.6 percent margin. And 52.4 percent of those who consumed alcohol in the past 30 days had gambled, compared with 32.4 percent among non-drinkers.

Among those who had played the slots, women outnumbered men by about a 3-to-2 margin.

Ms. Kriedeman said officials have expanded their gambling-related questioning in the surveys being conducted in 2008, though no results are yet available from it.

The information will help in determining how to target public education and awareness programs about gambling problems, she said, but the low number of people identifying themselves with compulsive tendencies was heartening.

National studies have generally estimated about 1 percent to 3 percent of adults have a serious gambling problem.

The gambling habits of Pennsylvanians do not appear high, if annual surveys of the U.S. population by the American Gaming Association are an indication. A research firm that conducted the association's most recent poll found 84 percent of Americans consider gambling acceptable, 48 percent played the lottery in the past year and 25 percent had visited casinos in the prior 12 months.