What is Gambling?
Gambling is an activity that involves risking something of value, such as money or time, in the hope of gaining something in return. This can happen through sports betting, casinos, games of chance and even lottery tickets. In some countries, gambling is even legal and taxed. While some people can gamble responsibly, it is important to understand that gambling can cause harm at the individual, interpersonal and community/society levels.
Problematic gambling is an addictive behaviour that can be triggered by many factors, including family history, social isolation and depression. It can also be a way to relieve stress, but this relief is short-term and can contribute to further stress in the long term. For some, gambling becomes the source of their income and a means to escape from their everyday life. This can lead to relationship breakdown, financial distress and mental illness. Gambling can also be used to launder money from illegal activities and is a common source of funding for criminal groups.
People who develop a gambling disorder may start at any age, but are most likely to be vulnerable in childhood and young adulthood. It is thought that this is due to the way their brain is developed, with some people having a more active reward system in the brain and being predisposed to thrill-seeking behavior. Other risk factors include poor educational attainment, living in rural areas and being male. People who are unemployed or living in poverty may be particularly susceptible to developing a gambling problem, as they have more to gain from winning and less to lose.
The first part of gambling is choosing what you want to bet on, for example a football team or a scratchcard. This is then matched to ‘odds’, which are set by the betting company and determine how much you could win if you won. The odds can be fixed, as with the football match, or they can be variable, as with a scratchcard.
Once you start gambling, you are faced with the challenge of trying to beat the house – the man on the other side of the bet – which is known as the ‘edge’. The house edge can be predetermined (as in the case of roulette, where you are paid 35 to 1 on a 37-number wheel) or can fluctuate (think about your odds when playing a game of poker).
Most studies on gambling have focused on the economic costs and benefits. This is partly because the impact on individuals is often not easily quantified. The societal/ community/society level impacts have been less well studied, with researchers struggling to measure non-monetary aspects of gambling impacts. However, a more holistic approach to gambling impacts is needed, which would involve evaluating the harms and benefits at the personal, interpersonal and societal/community level. This will help identify the key issues and targets for intervention. This could include universal pre-commitment systems requiring those who gamble to set binding limits on their losses, centralized account registration for those who gamble to record their spending, and restrictions relating to opening hours and gambling availability.
