Last Tuesday, the UK Gambling Commission released “Measuring Gambling-Related Harms: A Framework for Action”, a report prepared in conjunction with the Responsible Gaming Strategy Board (RGSA) and the industry-supported charity GambleAware. The introduction includes a working definition of such harms, namely “adverse impacts from gambling on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, communities and society.”
We can immediately see that the Commission is considering wider harm to the public from problem gaming, not only harm to the individual at risk.
The ambitious study presents 50 different types of gambling-related harm, and take a close look at some of the most significant, including crime, health issues, employment issues, and debt. The objective behind the report is to work towards quantifying the social costs of such harms, although the report itself acknowledges that this is extremely hard to do in certain cases.
The Commission has also promised the publication of reports into the specific and highly concerning area of protecting children from gambling-related harms, which is due to be produced towards the end of this year.
Chief Executive of the Commission, Neil McArthur said, concerning the report: “We do not see this as a definitive position, it’s very much a work in progress. We encourage public health officials, academics, the industry and the public to feed back on the report and work with us to set a framework that can help prevent harm to consumers.”
The report is stark, and pulls very few punches, although McArthur does emphasise that the UKGC recognises that “the majority of consumers can enjoy gambling without experiencing harm”.
The striking thing about this report is how wide-ranging it aims to be: it covers everything from the use of unsecured loans for gambling, the use of food banks, prospects for homelessness, reduced academic performance, impact on relationships, including divorce and the impact on children of problem gamblers, to more individualized feelings of stigma, self-harm, anxiety and stress.
It also identifies a number of key metrics for quantifying harms when related to gambling: number of job losses, incidences of bankruptcy, homelessness applications, use of debt services, crimes committed, divorces registered, increased signups to relationship services, reported experiences of stress, depression, substance abuse and self-harm, and number of suicides.
