Gambling is an activity that involves risking something of value (money, property or other assets) to predict an outcome of a game based on chance. Most people who gamble do so as a form of entertainment or to socialize with friends and family, but a small percentage develop gambling disorder, a mental health condition defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “a persistent and recurrent pattern of gambling that is associated with substantial distress or impairment.”

While some may see gambling as a fun and exciting way to pass the time, it can have many harmful effects on both individuals and society. Some people who experience gambling problems can suffer from depression, stress and anxiety, which can lead to substance abuse and poor decision making. Others find relief from the pain and discomfort by seeking help from a professional therapist.

Gambling can be found in most countries and is a popular leisure activity. It has major negative social and economic impacts that not only affect the gamblers themselves, but also their significant others and society/community as a whole. These impacts can be categorized into three classes: costs and benefits; and manifest on personal, interpersonal, and societal/community levels.

Negative monetary impacts of gambling include gambling losses, debt, bankruptcy and the cost of commuting to casinos. Interpersonal/interpersonal level costs of gambling are invisible to the gamblers and may involve social consequences, such as increased conflict, strained relationships, feelings of shame and guilt, and even suicidal thoughts. External societal/community level costs include general gambling costs, costs of problem gambling and long-term costs.

Positive societal impacts of gambling include the economic contributions to local communities, such as casino revenues, tourism, and infrastructure development. These societal impacts can be measured and can be compared to costs/benefits of different gambling policies in order to make informed choices.

The methodological challenges in analyzing the impact of gambling on a community/society level are more complicated than those posed at the individual and interpersonal levels. The methodological approaches used to measure costs and benefits differ widely, including use of health-related quality of life weights, common in alcohol and drug research, and monetary values assigned to intangible harms and benefits.

It is important to understand how gambling impacts on people and the society in which they live, especially when considering a public health approach. To achieve this goal, we propose a conceptual model for assessing the impacts of gambling on society from a public health perspective. This model is based on existing models for evaluating the impact of drugs and aims to improve them by using an evidence-based approach and incorporating an explicit definition of ‘social impacts’. It is hoped that this model will offer a framework for comparing and contrasting methodologies and facilitate the development of a common methodology for analyzing gambling impacts from a public health perspective.