Gambling involves putting your money on something that will give you a chance to win. It could be a football match, or buying a scratchcard. The odds that you get on these events are set by the betting company, and nobody knows for sure what the outcome will be.
Usually gambling is a fun way to spend time, but for some people it can become a problem. It can lead to more stress in their lives, and they may need help to stop.
The harm caused by gambling is an important issue and can be difficult to quantify, as it has a wide range of consequences for the person who gambles, their family, friends and the broader community. This has led to the development of a conceptual framework that was designed to address this challenge and ensure that a clearer definition of harm can be defined.
A key aspect of this framework is to separate gambling from problem gambling, and to broaden the focus beyond the person who gambles. This is consistent with a public health approach and a social model of health [11].
Harms experienced by the person who gambles were identified across a range of domains within the person’s life, their family and friends and the broader community. The first level of severity was identified as relating to financial harms that were sustained over a significant period. These included the erosion of savings and capacity to spend on other discretionary activities, such as family outings or social or artistic or cultural activities.