Report
Measuring the adverse consequences from gambling
Read how we have developed new questions about adverse consequence from gambling which are included in the GSGB survey.
Initial selection of items
In June 2020, the Gambling Commission began developing survey questions to assess the adverse consequences of gambling. An initial set of 27 items was selected from the 72-item checklist developed by Li et al. (2016). The chosen items aligned with Wardle et al.'s (2018) framework and covered 3 main categories of harm: relationships, resources, and health. These items were tested in multiple waves of the Commission's online tracker survey, with approximately 2,000 participants taking part in each wave between June 2020 and June 2021. Participants were asked whether they had experienced each of the adverse consequences in the last 12 months because of their own or someone else’s gambling (response options: ‘Yes - as a result of my own gambling’, ‘Yes – as a result of someone else’s gambling’, ‘No’).
Results from these questions within the online tracker were analysed to inform our initial selection of items and have therefore not been published externally. The findings showed that the most commonly reported negative effects of one’s own gambling, amongst those who reported at least one gambling-related harm, were feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment. Other commonly reported adverse consequences included reduced savings, reduced spending on leisure activities, reduced spending on everyday essentials, spending less time with loved ones and experiencing more conflict with friends and family. People who had been affected by someone else's gambling reported similar adverse consequences and were also likely to report taking out more credit or borrowing money and experiencing dishonesty in relationships.
Questions relating to the adverse consequences of gambling included in the online tracker survey
Health
These are the response options included in the online tracker survey:
- feeling like a failure
- reduced levels of self-care such as hygiene, eating, exercise, and so on
- increased consumption of alcohol and tobacco
- loss of sleep
- feelings of stress and anxiety
- incidence of self-harm
- feelings of embarrassment, guilt or shame
- needed assistance from mental health services or help with my physical health
- had thoughts of taking your life or made an attempt to take your life, by taking an overdose of tablets or in some other way.
Financial
These are the response options included in the online tracker survey:
- reduction or loss of spending money on everyday essentials items such as food, bills, transport costs, clothing, children's expenses, and so on
- reduction or loss of spending on recreational expenses such as eating out, going to the cinema, and so on
- needing to take on additional employment
- reduced performance at work or study
- being absent from work or study
- needing to sell personal items to fund gambling or pay debts
- needed assistance from welfare organisations such as foodbanks, emergency bill payments
- having to access more credit such as credit cards, loans, borrowing money from family and friends
- loss of major assets such as your car, home, business etc or bankruptcy
- reduction or loss of savings.
Relationships
These are the relationship response options included in the online tracker survey:
- spending less time with people I care about
- experiencing dishonesty or loss of trust in my relationships
- experiencing greater conflict in my relationships such as arguing
- divorce or ending or loss of a relationship
- experiencing social isolation (felt excluded or shut off from others)
- experiencing violence or abuse (including physical, emotional and financial abuse
- feeling compelled or forced to commit a crime or steal to fund gambling or pay debts
- needing assistance from relationship services or social services.
Refining items
Last updated: 25 July 2024
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