Gambling is a game of chance where you bet money, property or other stakes on a possible future event. People may gamble for fun or to earn money, but it’s important to understand that gambling is inherently risky and can cause harm if you lose your money.
Addiction
A person who is addicted to gambling might feel like they can’t stop gambling even though it is causing them harm. Treatment for addiction can include behavioural therapy, or CBT, which helps people challenge their beliefs around gambling and change how they think about and react to it.
Problems with gambling can be triggered by depression, stress, substance abuse or anxiety. These problems can be made worse by compulsive gambling, so it’s best to talk with your doctor about getting help if you are concerned about your gambling.
Harm related to gambling is defined as any initial or exacerbated adverse consequence due to an engagement with gambling that leads to a decrement in the health or wellbeing of an individual, family unit, community or population.
This definition reflects the complexities of the experience and breadth of harms that are associated with gambling, and allows for the operationalisation and measurement consistent with standard public health approaches to measuring health outcomes. It also aims to provide a basis for further research into the experience of gambling related harms and the role of other comorbidities in contributing to these effects.
Early findings in this study suggested that harms related to gambling were experienced at three levels – the person who gambles, those affected by their gambling and the wider community. This was reflected in the first group of harms, which were identified as financial harms, those relating to relationships, emotional or psychological harms and impacts on work, study or economic activity.