Global report sounds alarm
Gambling is even more dangerous to your health than you think
Updated 10/25/2024 – 8:28 a.mReading time: 3 min.
Physical and psychological problems, increased risk of suicide, loss of partner or job: the consequences of gambling addiction are far more drastic than previously thought. What can you do about it?
Gambling addiction causes significantly more damage to people than previously thought. This result, published in the journal “The Lancet“, was reached by a commission of experts in the areas of gambling research, public health, global health policy, risk control and regulatory policy. Gambling is “a threat to public health,” the report states.
Gambling addiction can lead to physical and psychological harm, destroy relationships and families, increase the risk of suicide, lead to financial ruin, promote crime and domestic violence and be responsible for job loss.
The situation has become drastically worse due to the international spread of commercial gambling, but especially due to digitalization. “Everyone with a mobile phone now has access to a casino in their pocket 24 hours a day,” says Heather Wardle of the University of Glasgow in the UK, co-chair of the commission. According to the report, the online sports betting and online casino sectors are currently growing the fastest.
It is currently estimated that almost 450 million people worldwide are affected by the negative effects of gambling – through at least one behavioral symptom or a personal, social or health disadvantage. 80 million people suffer from a gambling disorder or problem gambling – about as many as Germany’s population.
According to the Gambling Atlas Germany 2023, 30 percent of people in Germany take part in games of chance. According to this, around 1.3 million people have a gambling disorder, and another three million people have problematic gambling behavior. It is said that around one in 13 gamblers develop health, financial or social problems as a result of participating in slot games, sports betting and other games of chance.
In recent years, demand from online gamblers in particular for outpatient support services has increased significantly. The German slot machine industry criticizes the figures from the Germany 2023 Gambling Atlas as unreliable, but does not provide its own figures.
“Sophisticated marketing and technology are making it easier to start gambling and harder to stop,” explains Wardle of the University of Glasgow. Many products are designed to encourage repeated and prolonged play. “The global growth of this industry is phenomenal, we all need to wake up and act together.”
According to the Commission, this is a global problem, but it is not evenly distributed across all sections of the population. People from disadvantaged socioeconomic groups are particularly at risk. Low- and middle-income countries are often less well equipped to regulate the gambling industry and deal with the damage it causes.
In addition, children and young people in particular are routinely confronted with advertising for gambling products. In addition, gambling is often embedded in video games. “Children and young people are particularly susceptible to the temptations of easy money and the playful nature of online games,” explains co-author Kristiana Siste from the University of Indonesia. In advertising, the industry would generally promote gambling as harmless entertainment.
This is also why Malcolm Sparrow from the Harvard Kennedy School in the USA emphasizes: “The Commission calls on policymakers to treat gambling as a public health problem, just as we treat other addictive and unhealthy goods such as alcohol and tobacco.”
As the gambling industry uses innovative digital marketing approaches to promote its products and protect its interests, the Commission calls for an effective and well-resourced regulatory system, as well as international cooperation and leadership, to reduce the public health consequences of commercial gambling. This is necessary in all countries – regardless of whether gambling is legal there or not.
Specifically, gambling should be less available in the future. In addition, vulnerable groups should be less exposed to the danger. The Commission also calls for more support and treatment options for addicts as well as awareness campaigns about the harms of gambling.