80 mn people globally experience gambling disorders, adolescents most affected: Lancet

With the advent of the digital revolution that ushered in a huge market for online casino and sports betting market, an estimated 80 million people globally experience gambling disorder or problematic gambling, with adolescents being the most affected, according to research published in The Lancet Public Health Commission on Friday.

The Commission noted that children and adolescents are routinely exposed to advertising of gambling products in “unprecedented ways” and are the most affected. It is because children and adolescents remain particularly vulnerable “to the allure of easy money and the game-like designs of online gambling”

They called for stronger global regulatory controls to reduce the impact of commercial gambling on worldwide health and wellbeing.

An international team of researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis and found that approximately 448·7 million adults worldwide experience any risk gambling, where individuals experience at least one behavioural symptom or adverse personal, social, or health consequence of gambling. Of these, an estimated 80 million adults experience gambling disorder or problematic gambling.

Further, gambling using online casinos or slot products was found to lead to gambling disorders in 15·8 per cent of adults and 26·4 per cent of adolescents. Gambling using sports betting products affected 8·9 per cent of adults and 16·3 per cent of adolescents.

Professor Heather Wardle, Co-Chair of the Commission from the University of Glasgow said unlike the traditional Las Vegas casino or a lottery ticket, “anyone with a mobile phone now has access to what is essentially a casino in their pocket, 24 hours a day”.

Wardle said that “large technology companies are deploying a variety of techniques to get more people to engage more frequently that can pose substantial health risks”.

“Highly sophisticated marketing and technology make it easier to start, and harder to stop gambling. If we delay, gambling and gambling harms will become even more widely embedded as a global phenomenon and much harder to tackle,” she added.

While commercial gambling is known to be associated with financial losses and the risk of financial ruin, it is also associated with physical and mental health problems, relationship and family breakdown, heightened risk of suicide and domestic violence, increased crime against property and people, and loss of employment, the researchers said.

Dr Kristiana Siste, Commissioner of the Universitas Indonesia called on policymakers to “take action to protect children from the harms of gambling”.

She noted that the risks of developing gambling disorders later in life due to early exposure to gambling increases are clearly evident.

The Commission urged policymakers to treat gambling as a public health issue, just as alcohol and tobacco, and to bring in policy to preserve the next generation from gambling-related harms.