Gambling related harms – community and clinical comparisons

Abstract

Background: Large scale gambling research has traditionally used screening instruments such as the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) to determine prevalence rates and inform policy. Implicit within this approach is the assumption that scores on screening instruments are a proxy for the presence and severity of harms associated with gambling.

Method: A sample of 99 clients attending a specialist gambling treatment clinic, and 330 regular gamblers in the community were administered the Problem Gambling Severity Index and an instrument measuring severity of harm and its relationship to gambling.

Results: Results suggested that gamblers in the community self-reported experiencing lower overall levels of harm across seven domains including psychological distress compared to the clinical sample. Similar patterns were observed when examining participants meeting PGSI criteria for problem gambling, and for those problem gamblers experiencing any level of harm.

Conclusions: Results suggest that high levels of psychological and financial harm are a robust characteristic of individuals in treatment. Although overall rates of harm attributed to gambling were lower in the community, approximately a fifth of the sample failing to meet problem gambling cutoff scores reported harms. Exclusively using screening instruments may results in incorrect estimates of the number of gamblers experiencing harm.

Keywords:

• Problem gambling
• gambling
• prevalence
• harm

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge Brittany Keen and Dylan Pickering for their work collecting data for the community sample, and Martin Wieczorek for his work conducting the literature search for the 2016 Gambling Harm Minimization Report.

Disclosure of interest

D.J.A., F.A., and K.S. have no competing interests to declare.

For the period 2015 – 2018, AB has conducted research funded directly by Australian or international government, or government-related funding agencies, and industry operators. These include Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, ClubsNSW, Dooleys Club Lidcombe, Aristocrat Leisure Industries, Australian Communications Media Authority, Gaming Technologies Association, Gambling Research Australia, Responsible Wagering Australia, Commonwealth Bank, NSW Department of Trade and Investment (NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing), La Loterie Romande (Switzerland), Camelot (United Kingdom), La Française des Jeux (France), Loto-Quebec (Canada), and National Lottery (Belgium), and the National Association for Gambling Studies.

He has received honorariums from Manitoba Gambling Research Program and GambleAware (formerly UK Responsible Gambling Trust) for grant reviews, and royalties from several publishers for books and book chapters. He has also received travel and accommodation expenses from Leagues Clubs, Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, USA National Council on Problem Gambling, Japan Medical Society for Behavioral Addiction, Le Comité d'organisation Congrès international sur les troubles addictifs, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, and New Horizons (British Columbia Lottery Corporation to attend conferences and meetings.

All professional dealings have been conducted with the aim of enhancing responsible gambling and harm minimization policies and practices, training Counselors in the treatment interventions, and advancing our understanding of the psychology of gambling.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the New South Wales Government from the Responsible Gambling Fund [Reference Number: DTIRIS 13/23].