Gambling is a complex activity that involves risk-taking and reward. It involves betting on events whose outcome cannot be known in advance, such as the outcome of a football match or the results of a scratchcard draw. While there are many positive aspects to gambling, it can also cause negative effects, both personal and societal. In order to help people stay safe, the Responsible Gambling Council offers information and advice. Some of the most important things to consider when gambling are:
Gambling can be addictive, and it’s important to be aware of the signs of addiction and to seek treatment. The signs of addiction include:
Feeling a need to gamble even when you know it’s not good for you. Using gambling to avoid unpleasant feelings, such as boredom or loneliness. Trying to stop gambling but failing. Keeping secret accounts or hiding evidence that you’re gambling.
A good way to identify gambling addiction is to find healthier ways of coping with your emotions and relieving boredom, such as exercising, spending time with friends who don’t gamble, or trying out new hobbies. If you’re unable to stop gambling, there are many treatments available. They range from family therapy to marriage, career, and credit counselling.
The risks of gambling can be very serious and affect all areas of your life. Problem gambling can cause financial problems, relationship difficulties, depression, anxiety and physical health issues. It can also have a negative impact on your work performance and lead to legal issues. In extreme cases, pathological gambling has been linked to homicide and severe domestic violence.
In addition to the direct costs of gambling, there are also indirect and intangible costs associated with it. These are often difficult to measure and quantify in dollar terms, and are usually omitted from economic cost-benefit analysis studies. However, they are just as real and important as the monetary impacts of gambling.
While the negative impacts of gambling are often emphasized, positive effects have been overlooked. For example, it has been found that recreational gamblers, especially older adults, have better physical and mental health functioning than nongamblers. In addition, it has been suggested that seniors may be able to use gambling as a way to maintain their self-esteem and sense of purpose in life.
Gambling impacts occur at the personal, interpersonal and societal/community levels (Fig. 1). The personal and interpersonal level impacts are mostly non-monetary, while the societal/community level impacts are mainly monetary. The societal/community level external impacts are categorized as general, problem gambling-related and long term. Despite their importance, most studies ignore the social/community level impacts. The reason for this is that the social/community level impacts are hard to quantify. Moreover, they often involve other people, and so are difficult to control. Therefore, research focusing on them is difficult to carry out and publish. This is a major limitation of current research on gambling impacts.