Gambling is a recreational activity that involves placing bets on events based on chance. These bets may be placed on things like football matches or scratchcards, and a person’s chances of winning are dependent on the outcome of the event and the odds set for it. It can be fun to gamble, but it is important to know the risks and how to limit gambling.
Many people have difficulty regulating their gambling habits and can become addicted. The problem is that people who suffer from pathological gambling experience dramatic changes in the way their brains send chemical messages, and can end up accumulating debts that lead to serious financial hardship. Pathological gambling was recently included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), which recognises it as an addictive disorder akin to substance addiction.
It is possible to overcome a gambling addiction. Those in recovery should surround themselves with supportive people and avoid environments that trigger their gambling, make an effort to find healthier leisure activities and seek help for underlying mood disorders such as depression or anxiety, which can be made worse by compulsive gambling. Some recovering gamblers benefit from joining a support group such as Gamblers Anonymous, which is a 12-step programme modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous.
Most studies ignore social impacts of gambling, and those that do focus on them largely consider only economic costs or benefits – which are relatively easy to quantify. Rather, we should explore the broader implications of gambling by using health-related quality of life (HRQL) weights, which measure the per-person burden on a person’s quality of life and can be applied to non-monetary losses incurred by gamblers – such as the emotional toll of losing money.