GambleAware fully supports the global findings and recommendations from The Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling.
Recognised as a leading medical research journal, The Lancet published its report on the impact of gambling on “worldwide health and wellbeing” on 24 October.
The report provides groundbreaking global estimates of gambling prevalence, stating that “46.2% of adults and 17.9% of adolescents had engaged in gambling in the past year, globally. While only a small proportion of individuals will be classified as engaging in problematic gambling (1.4%).”
According to The Lancet, governments have neglected and understudied gambling disorders, especially as online platforms have broken down traditional barriers to gambling. Researchers estimate that globally, 448 million adults are at risk of gambling-related harm, with 80 million experiencing gambling disorders.
The Lancet Commission stresses the need for stronger global regulations to reduce the health and social harms caused by gambling.
“For too long, governments—also conflicted because of the benefits they gain from taxes and revenues of a profitable industry—have paid little attention to understanding gambling-related harms,” the report states.
Governments must understand the serious public health and welfare threats associated with gambling disorders, including financial ruin, health issues, relationship breakdowns, increased suicide risk, and crime. Problem gambling also exacerbates social inequalities, affecting mobility and increasing poverty in lower- and middle-income communities. These effects undermine governments’ ambitions to build sustainable economies.
The Commission calls on “governments and policymakers to treat gambling as a public health issue—just as for other addictive and unhealthy commodities, such as alcohol and tobacco.”
To address gambling as a public health issue, governments and stakeholders need to adopt a coordinated global approach involving the UN, WHO, and a proposed international alliance to reduce gambling harms, along with a World Health Assembly resolution on gambling’s public health impact.
In response, GambleAware Chief Executive Officer Zoe Osmond said: “We’ve long called for gambling harm to be treated as a public health issue, so we welcome that this report echoes our concerns. More needs to be done to end the blight of gambling harm across society.
Tackling the problem in Great Britain requires a greater understanding of the harm that gambling can cause and a government-led National Strategy to prevent gambling harm, supported by sustainable funding. We hope this will begin with the government’s response to the statutory levy consultation.”