key: cord-0710521-o6v2kyr6
authors: Kesaite, Viktorija; Wardle, Heather
title: Changes in gambling harms show need to consider the relationship between harms and availability
date: 2021-12-11
journal: Lancet Reg Health Eur
DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100288
sha: 49428228cc46096cd2a1cb77d67a29f7ffeb2181
doc_id: 710521
cord_uid: o6v2kyr6

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tions on the supply of gambling activities are likely to affect who gambles, how often and their resultant experiences of harms.

These findings are consistent with our expectations of applying the total consumption model to gambling, whereby Rose and Day 2 originally proposed that "the population mean predicts the number of deviant individuals "(their language). This suggests that when mean consumption changes, as it did during COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that the proportion of people experiencing problem gambling will change accordingly. 3 This initial data from the Gambling Commission appears consistent with this hypothesis. Further support is provided by studies examining what happened during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March-June 2020, where around of one third of regular sports bettors simply stopped gambling altogether when neither sports nor their preferred form of betting were available. 4 Understanding the patterns that underlie these trends is important. Retail-based gambling is a multi-billion industry that contributes over a third of revenues to the gambling industry and affects huge swathes of society. Given the stubborn stability of problem gambling rates in Britain observed over the last ten years, we should carefully consider the range of factors that influence their reduction. Inconvenient as it may be to some sectors of the gambling industry, considering the relationship between gambling availability and its relationship to harms should be part of this equation. Turkish Green Crescent Society 2019, Travel and accommodation fees to attend WHO panel in Istanbul Deputy Chair of the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling 2015-2020, Provided independent advice to government on gambling policy. Remuneration paid by The Gambling Commission directly to myself

Survey on gambling participation

The population mean predicts the number of deviant individuals

The collectivity of drinking cultures: a theory of the distribution of alcohol consumption

The impact of the initial Covid-19 lockdown upon regular sports bettors in Britain: Findings from a cross-sectional online study

Literature search, data interpretation and writing of the letter was carried out by both authors.