A scoping review of the impacts of gambling on health and wellbeing amongst the United Kingdom adult population.

Abstract

Background: There are calls for gambling to be considered as a public health issue due to the harms associated with its participation for some individuals and at-risk groups. Ranging from psychological harms, financial stresses to health harm behaviours and wider family and community affects. This scoping review aimed to address if the UK population experienced health harm effects of gambling and also the consideration of the evolving accessibility of online based gambling comparable to land-based methods.

Methods: PRISMA guidelines and flow diagram framework for scoping reviews were followed for retrieval of relevant studies for this review. The database EBSCOhost was searched for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies using pre-set inclusion and exclusion criteria tailored to the topic of interest between 2018 and 2023, based in the UK with adult participants. 875 studies were retrieved, and after screening processes including duplicate removal, ten studies were included in the final review.

Results: Harms relating to gambling tended to primarily affect individuals with problematic gambling behaviours, including heightened anxiety and depression levels, financial and relationship strains. Alcohol’s relationship to gambling harms is a theme examined often, with associations between gambling frequency and alcohol intake. Although limited research pertaining to online gambling was retrieved, aspects of this were included in a small number of the studies particularly with regards to younger people. Three populations were common when assessing harms: armed forces, young people and males. This highlights at-risk groups but also gaps in the research for other potentially vulnerable populations.

Conclusion: Gambling related harms are experienced by those at varying risk levels of problematic gambling participation, however this can also affect families and the wider community. Whether a health issue existed prior to, as an outcome of, or is exacerbated by, gambling for some individuals should not deter from a public health multifaceted approach to harm reduction. Further research into emerging online gambling related harms and on a whole population level, as well as at risk populations, will provide a greater representative sample of the UK and address health support needs.