Lancet Commission Calls Gambling a Global Public Health Concern
A new report has warned that gambling is increasingly becoming a global public health concern, with its rapid expansion through mobile phones and the internet affecting more people than ever before.
Lancet Commission warns gambling may pose a serious risk to public health.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:A group of experts in fields such as gambling, public health, global health, and regulatory policy argued that there is a need for much stronger international regulatory measures to combat the impact of commercial gambling on health and well-being.
A recent 45-page report from the Lancet public health commission on gambling found that approximately 450 million people show at least one gambling-related behavior or have experienced adverse personal, social, or health outcomes due to gambling. Of these, at least 80 million suffer from gambling disorder, a mental health condition characterized by a pattern of repetitive betting despite negative consequences on their lives. The report suggests these figures are probably an underestimation of the actual number of individuals facing health risks from gambling.
More People Exposed to Gambling Than Ever Before
The rise of sophisticated marketing strategies, together with easy and widespread access to the internet and mobile devices, has allowed the gambling industry to reach a larger audience than ever, including adolescents and young children.
Professor Heather Wardle, co-chair of the commission, warned that the rapidly evolving gambling industry is posing an unprecedented threat to public health.
Anyone with a mobile phone now has access to what is essentially a casino in their pocket, 24 hours a day. Highly sophisticated marketing and technology make it easier to start and harder to stop gambling, and many products now use design mechanics to encourage repeated and longer engagement.
Wardle went on to call for collective action, saying, “Collectively, we need to wake up and take action. If we delay, gambling and gambling harms will become even more widely embedded as a global phenomenon and much harder to tackle.”
High Percentage of Adults and Teens Affected by Gambling Disorder
A systematic review and meta-analysis carried out for the commission suggested that gambling disorder affects 15.8% of adults and 26.4% of adolescents who use online casino or slot sites, and 8.9% of adults and 16.3% of adolescents who participate in sports betting.
Furthermore, the experts who compiled the report said that gambling harms are not evenly distributed across populations. Certain groups, such as adolescents and younger children exposed to frequent gambling advertisements, face a particularly high risk. Additionally, gambling elements are often incorporated into video games, further increasing exposure among young people.
Dr. Kristiana Siste, another expert who contributed to the report, called for more to be done to protect children from gambling-related harms.
We need to take action to protect children from the harms of gambling. We know that early exposure to gambling increases the risk of developing gambling disorders later in life, and children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the allure of easy money and the game-like designs of online gambling.
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Report Warns of Complex Gambling Marketing Ecosystem
The report also cautioned that a complex ecosystem is enabling the multi-billion-dollar gambling industry to market its products and protect its interests by utilizing innovative digital marketing based upon “deep surveillance” to target potential consumers online, along with extensive sponsorship deals in sports and broadcast media.
The commission’s experts also expressed concerns that the gambling industry is attempting to undermine scientific research on the impact of gambling by moving the discussion to one of personal responsibility and, this way, influence political regulatory processes.
Professor Malcolm Sparrow, one of the contributors to the report, called for stricter regulation of gambling. He argues that for as long as the industry markets it as “harmless entertainment”, people will continue to experience “rapidly increasing threats from gambling harms.” Therefore, the commission is urging policymakers to treat gambling as a public health issue similar to alcohol and tobacco.
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