The Social Impact of Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of something of value on a random event in the hope of winning. It ranges from the buying of lottery tickets to sophisticated casino gambling. It can be done legally or illegally and for profit or just to pass the time. It is also an important source of revenue for governments and is frequently used to fund charitable activities and community initiatives.

When people gamble, they are seeking some form of reinforcement, a dopamine response in the brain that makes them feel good when they win. But because of the uncertainty in gambling, they don’t always get rewarded. This can be very frustrating and leads them to believe that they can control the outcome by throwing a dice in a certain way, or sitting in a particular spot or wearing a lucky item of clothing. This is a common mental health problem called irrational belief.

Working in the field of treatment and prevention of gambling problems I have observed that the understanding of pathological gambling has undergone a revolution, similar to the change in the understanding of alcoholism. Historically, individuals who experience adverse consequences from excessive gambling were viewed as gamblers with problems; today, they are seen as having psychological problems.

Although research on the economic impacts of gambling is abundant, research into the social impacts is more limited. This is partly because it’s difficult to measure the invisible aspects of gambling, such as emotional stress and family problems. Moreover, many of these social impacts are non-monetary and are thus excluded from calculations.