Gambling can seriously damage your health

  • Simon Paul Attard Montalto

Abstract

Gambling is one of the earliest forms of entertainment and an ancient activity, possibly dating as far back as the middle pre-history Palaeolithic era (circa 50,000 years ago).1 Dice, dating to before 3,000BC, have been discovered in ancient Mesopotamia (now Western Asia), gambling houses have been recorded in China in 1,000BC, early playing cards in the 800s AD, and the first casino opened in Venice, Italy in 1638.1 Gambling, gaming and betting have been defined interchangeably but, arguably, equate to one another.2 Gambling is known to become addictive, and is reinforced by repeated losses. It can be stratified, ranging from ‘none’, to ‘occasional’, ‘recreational’, ‘at risk’, ‘problem’ and finally ‘pathological’ gamblers. However, this is a continuum and all ‘problem gamblers’ started off as non-gamblers and ‘worked their way up the ladder’. Gambling is mostly associated with male gender, and ‘pathological gamblers’ make up around 0.1-3.0 (median 1.5)% of any given western population, increasing to 2.3-13.0 (median 5.4)% if ‘problem’ and ‘pathological’ gamblers are combined.3

Problem gambling is intricately associated with health, social and financial problems.4,5 The odd flutter may amount to a harmless folly, but habitual and compulsive betting has dire repercussions for the individual in terms of health, finances and secondary problems to fund increasing debt with, in some cases, recourse to criminal activity.4-7 ‘Problem’ gambling has been estimated to cost the taxpayer in the UK around £1.2Bn per annum, mostly for additional NHS services.8 The situation for gaming is similar to that of smoking and alcohol – all have a dire impact on individuals, families and society, yet governments ‘tolerate’ these, and ‘balance’ this tolerance by gambling-derived income and taxation.9 That said, the global annual turnover of the betting/gambling industry is enormous, around $450 billion in 2020, and estimated to top a staggering $648 billion by 2027.10

Hence, any tax ‘hit’ is easily absorbed with little impact on the industry itself and often, rather hypocritically, offset by exemptions and offshore tax-friendly sweeteners.9,11

The debate for and against gambling has smouldered for centuries, with governments, authoritative bodies and even religions taking widely divergent positions.12 The ‘modern’ penchant for an inactive lifestyle encourages entertainment to be sought elsewhere, and the gambling community has been quick to exploit this niche and migrate gambling in diverse forms and guises on-line. High-street (any street!) betting/gambling outlets have mushroomed, in line with on-line betting websites. In 2020, COVID restrictions have not helped, and contributed toward increasing the growth of the industry’s global earning by an estimated 5.6%.10 A bet can be ‘posted’ on anything and everything, and at any time. Bets on the FIFA 2018 World Cup were estimated to have reached €136Bn,13 whereas 26M Americans laid bets on the Super Bowl final in 2020, spending $6.8Bn.14 Gambling advertising has become ubiquitous, particularly in association with sponsorship for individuals, teams, institutions and diverse sporting events. Betting-related advertising amounted to 17% of all advertising during the 2018 World Cup.13 The sheer arrogance of intrusive betting advertising, often clothed in nauseatingly bombastic narrative, is astonishing. Promotional interruptions during key sporting events are commonplace, and Malta is not immune (remember the full-screen advert lasting almost a minute during the most recent world cup final?).

In its defence, in Malta as elsewhere, the industry and legislators have ‘built in’ numerous checks and balances ensuring regulation and with the aim of preventing excesses.9,10,15,16 Similarly, this industry contributes significantly as an employer and toward the GDP: in 2019, Gaming employed approximately 7,500 persons, and added €1.56Bn, or 20% of the total, making it the third largest sector in Malta.15 However, betting is, essentially, based on the concept of ‘something for nothing’ (or, at least, for very little). In reality, the hype and glamour surrounding mega-wins is all spin and simply adds gloss to the more down-to-earth (and sordid) reality: namely, that the overwhelmingly vast majority of punters lose their money. In its latest issue, whilst recognising Malta as a leading gaming jurisdiction that is home to many of the world's biggest online gambling affiliates, the Global Gambling Statistics reports: “. . . another interesting top 10 member is Malta. The small Mediterranean island boasts a small population but one of the largest per-capita losses anywhere in the world.”16 Sobering words indeed.

The industry is extremely slick at publicising the ‘big’ (but rare!) wins (effectively, using these as their lure), whilst simply ignoring the vastly greater losses sustained by everybody else! This imbalance needs to be addressed, and it may be opportune to add, as with smoking, an official caveat on all betting advertising: ‘Gambling can seriously damage your health’!

References

  1. DG Schwartz. Roll the Bones: The history of Gambling. 2nd Edition. Gotham, 2007.
  2. Gambling Commission What is gambling? 2020. https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/for-the-public/What-is
  3. Pathological Gambling: A critical review. 1999. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230631/
  4. Mayo Clinic. Compulsive gambling. In Patient Care and Health Information, Diseases and Conditions. 2021. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/compulsive-gambling/symptoms-causes/syc-20355178#:~:text=People%20who%20gamble%20compulsively%20often,%2Fhyperactivity%20disorder%20(ADHD).
  5. T Latvala, T Lintonen, A Konu. Public health effects of gambling – debate on a conceptual model. BMC Pub Health. 2019;’ 19: 1077. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7391-z
  6. H Wardle, G Reith, E Langham, RD Rogers. Gambling and public health: we need policy action to prevent harm. BMJ. 2019; 365: 1807-16.
  7. D Forrest. An economic and social review of gambling in Great Britain. J Gambling Business Economic. 2013; 7 (3): 1-033.
  8. Gamble Aware. Problem gamblers cost the UK Government up to £1.2billion per year. https://www.begambleaware.org/media/1366/2016-057-2016-12-13.pdf
  9. Gaming in Malta. Malta Gaming Authority. 2021. https://www.mga.org.mt/malta/gaming-in-malta/
  10. Cision PR Newswire. Global gambling industry: Global gambling market to reach 647.9 Billion by 2027. August 2020. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-gambling-industry-301107436.html
  11. A Wilton. Is Malta a Tax Haven? Malta Guides. 2019. https://maltaguides.co/tax/haven/
  12. W Saunders. Is gambling a sin? Catholic Exchange. 2013 https://catholicexchange.com/is-gambling-a-sin. Manchester University Press.
  13. FIFA analysis estimates bookmakers took €136B in bets on 2018 World Cup. 2018. https://www.casino.org/news/2018-world-cup-generated-e136-billion-in-bets-worldwide-fifa-says/
  14. Record number of bets expected for Super Bowl. 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/28/record-number-of-bets-expected-for-super-bowl.html#:~:text=This%20year's%20Super%20Bowl%20will,against%20the%20San%20Francisco%2049ers.
  15. D O’Boyle. Gaming contributes €1.56Bn to Maltese economy in 2019. 2020. 2020https://igamingbusiness.com/gaming-contributes-e1-56bn-to-maltese-economy-in-2019/
  16. org. Global gambling industry in recent years. Who’s doing the worst? Global Gambling Statistics 2021. https://www.casino.org/features/gambling-statistics/

Figure

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Issue
Vol. 33 No. 1 (2021)
Section
Editorial
Published
07-04-2021

License

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