Whether you’re rolling the dice in a twinkly casino or pulling the lever on a slot machine, gambling provides an escape from the stress of everyday life and can offer that feeling of excitement when luck strikes. But while it can offer short term relief, the harms of gambling are real and can include financial stress, relationship breakdown, mental illness and suicide. Sadly, it is also common for people to develop a gambling disorder and the effects can be passed on through family and generations.
Despite its negative impacts, gambling is a highly profitable activity with governments receiving substantial taxation revenue from gambling activities. This can influence policy makers’ incentives to reduce harm. In addition, the perception that gambling is low risk and high reward can encourage individuals to gamble. But in reality, gambling is actually a high risk, low reward activity where the odds always favor the house.
Gambling is associated with the same dopamine response as drug addiction and can become a self-medication for depression, anxiety or boredom. Moreover, it appeals to basic human needs of belonging and status (e.g., casinos foster social interaction and specialness). But gambling is not just about money, it also appeals to greed and is considered idolatry by some Christians, who believe that the 1st commandment forbids covetousness.
People who have a higher vulnerability to developing gambling problems include those with lower incomes who have more to lose than gain from a win and young people (up to 5% of whom develop a gambling disorder). To minimise gambling harm, population-wide interventions should be introduced including ending advertising and promotion, universal pre-commitment (requiring people who gamble to set binding limits), and centralized account registration (requiring players to register their losses). Nudges that are designed to counteract cognitive biases and promote safer products should be used alongside strict regulation of gambling products.