Gambling is 'bad for your health'

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 05 Nov 2004 - 15:00 PDT

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Gambling is bad for your health and the truly addicted can suffer depression, insomnia, intestinal disorders, migraine and other stress related problems, according to a new study.

For the one per cent of gamblers who are hooked on their vice, this is a significant public health problem that can even lead to suicide.

Among slot machine obsessed adolescents, the rate of problem gambling rises to two per cent, according to Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

He says the imminent changes to gambling legislation in the UK should be accompanied by a realisation amongst health professionals that Britain's 300,000 problem gamblers have health issues that need to be taken seriously.

"At the moment gambling services are inadequate. The government suggests that £3 million be put aside per year in terms of treatment, prevention and research, but that's only £10 per problem gambler per year," he told BBC Radio Four.

Professor Griffith claims to be broadly in favour of the Government's Gambling Bill, which would see the creation of Las Vegas style supercasinos, as well as tighter regulation of the sector.

But writing in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) he warns that Australia, Canada and New Zealand have all experienced a surge in problem gambling with increased accessibility.

www.hda-online.org.uk