Gambling is an activity in which someone risks something of value on an event that is primarily random with the intention of winning a prize. It is a human activity that has existed in virtually every society since prerecorded history, and it is incorporated into local customs and rites of passage across the globe. While most people who engage in gambling do so without a problem, some develop a disorder that has serious consequences for their health and wellbeing. Understanding what makes certain individuals vulnerable to developing a problem could help to inform prevention and treatment strategies, as well as the role that the government should play in addressing these issues.
Problem gambling is a complex phenomenon that consists of a spectrum of disorders ranging from low risk, nonproblematic gaming to high-risk pathological gambling. It is associated with numerous negative health and social impacts, including changes in family functioning, financial distress, job loss and suicide. In addition, the prevalence of problem gambling is increasing worldwide, with men being more likely than women to have a gambling disorder. This trend is due to the prevalence of societal influences that promote gambling and increase its accessibility.
There are many reasons why people gamble, which may be influenced by culture, personal experiences or a combination of factors. However, a person’s motive for gambling can be an important factor in determining whether the behaviour is problematic. For example, some people gamble for entertainment purposes, while others do so as a form of escape from a stressful life. Regardless of the reason for gambling, it can become harmful when the harms begin to outweigh the pleasures.
It is widely accepted that gambling has both costs and benefits, but the methods used to measure these are often disputed. For example, the cost-benefit analysis approach is commonly used to calculate gambling’s societal impact, but there are different ways of assigning values to both costs and benefits. Some researchers use health-related quality of life weights, which are used in alcohol and drug research, while others calculate monetary values for the cost and benefits of gambling.
Despite the complexity of measuring both the costs and benefits of gambling, there is an urgent need to evaluate the impact of this behavior on society. This article reviews complementing and contrasting methodologies to produce a conceptual model for evaluating gambling impacts from a public health perspective. It identifies and classifies the various classes of gambling impacts: financial, labor and health, and community/societal (Fig. 2). Financial impacts can include gambling revenues, tourism, and changes in infrastructure costs or value. Labour and health impacts relate to gambling effects on employees, such as changes in productivity and absenteeism. Community/societal impacts affect those who are not gamblers, such as their significant others and their communities.
These impacts can be categorized as being at the personal, interpersonal and community/societal levels. At the personal level, they involve effects on the gambler themselves, while at the interpersonal level they influence a gambler’s family members and at the societal/community level they include a wide range of effects, including economic benefits and costs that affect non-gamblers.
