Associations between gambling severity and criminal convictions: implications for the welfare state

Abstract

This study addresses criminal convictions, social disadvantage and problem gambling as an interwoven set of problems. It makes use of data from a population-based gambling survey (n = 7,186) conducted in three Finnish regions. The survey data are combined with national registers to examine associations between sociodemographic factors and gambling severity, comparing persons with and without a criminal record. Gambling behavior included past-year (2016) gambling severity and perceived life-time problem gambling. Social disadvantage was assessed using sociodemographic factors such as education, employment status, level of income and receipt of basic social assistance. Logistic regression analysis showed that both past-year problem or pathological gambling (OR: 2.725) and perceived life-time gambling problems (OR: 2.363) were associated with having a conviction, compared to recreational gambling. Low education, unemployment, low income and receipt of basic social assistance were associated with receiving a conviction. When gender, age and sociodemographic factors were controlled for, odds ratios for both past-year gambling problems (OR: 1.223) and perceived life-time gambling problems (OR: 1.586) did not remain statistically significant. The current study suggests that preventive efforts against problem gambling and interventions in criminal justice systems should be expanded to incorporate the aim of reducing social disadvantage.

Keywords:

• Problem gambling
• welfare state
• register data
• criminal convictions
• population survey
• quantitative research

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Ethics Committee of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, approved the research protocol (THL/1390/6.02.01/2016). Additional approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Statistics Finland (5/2016, 17.11.2016).

Potential participants were informed about the principle of voluntary participation. They were informed that participating the study involved the register-linkage, in accordance of the national data protection regulations of that time. Furthermore, the letter included information about the registers, their statutory right to disclose data for scientific purposes and a list of the register-based variables used.

The research protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The Finnish Gambling Harms Survey dataset is openly available for research purposes from the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (https://www.fsd.uta.fi/en/). Additional approval for the use of the register data was obtained from the ethics committee of Statistics Finland. Analyses were conducted in a protected environment by Statistics Finland using a remote access system, and the results were transferred to the authors through a screening process.

Author contributions

KL, MH, YO and AHS were responsible for conceiving, designing, and planning the study. The data were analyzed by KL. KL and AHS interpreted the results. KL wrote the first draft of the article. KL, MH, YO and AHS critically revised the article for important intellectual content.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

Gambling Harms survey data is openly available for research purposes from the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (https://www.fsd.uta.fi/en/). The register-based data was available based on a separate contract with Statistics Finland. The statistical analyses were conducted in a protected environment by Statistics Finland using a remote access system. The results were transferred to the authors through a screening process.

Additional information

Funding

Conducting the survey was funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Helsinki, Finland (section 52 of the Appropriation of the Lotteries Act). Daily work of the author KL and AHS at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, was also funded by the Ministry.

Notes on contributors

Kalle Lind

Kalle Lind, MSSc, is currently working as a researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. He is also completing his PhD studies (sociology) at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Tampere, focusing on gambling-related crime reported to the police in Finland. In addition, he has been studying gambling and crime among support program participants. His research interests include gambling, crime, addiction, and treatment development, which he approaches using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Matilda Hellman

Matilda Hellman, DSocSci, is a sociologist with a background in literature, journalism and social sciences. She has been internationally recognized and awarded for her work concerning sociocultural understandings and articulations of health. Her research has dealt with addiction, mental health, lifestyles and social marginalization. It has furthered knowledge on the ways in which governance practice and institutions embed and produce views on questions such as drug use, alcohol policy, gambling, brain-based addiction and how it effects individuals, groups and societies. A central conceptual framework has been the welfare state in its many historical shapes and models.

Yaira Obstbaum

Yaira Obstbaum, DSocSci, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy. She is a criminologist with a background in sociology, her research interests include crime, substance abuse and prisoners.

Anne H. Salonen

Anne H. Salonen is a RN and Doctor of Health Sciences. Currently she works as a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland and serves as an Adjuct Professor at the University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr Salonen’s research interests include studies monitoring and enhancing health and wellbeing. Her strongest expertise involves quantitative studies, particularly different types of surveys. She is a principal investigator of the population-based Finnish Gambling Study and the Gambling Harms Survey.