What is the financial burden which is incurred because of gambling addiction?

The burden which problematic gambling puts on the economy is enormous. Several hundred million Euro are necessary year after year to help those involved. Besides this, one must consider the personal fortune of each individual gambling addict. A recently published study concluded that the costs arising from gambling addiction in Norway are around half as high as the gross player income of all legal gambling providers.

A problematic or even pathological gambling behaviour is not only very dangerous and expensive for the individual player, but also for the whole society. Only a few weeks ago we asked in an article, whether one in every three slot machine players could be gambling addicted. A few days ago an interesting study of the National Competence Centre for Gaming Research was published. This study tackles the escalating costs which the Norwegian economy is facing because of gambling addiction.

Norway: burden of 500 million Euro for gambling addiction per year

The Norwegian researchers wanted to find out to what extent gambling addiction is a financial burden on the country. For this purpose, `before the study they divided the costs into direct and indirect costs. For example, therapy costs for the treatment of a gambling addict fall under direct costs. Besides these, the costs of professional advice, or information also count as direct costs.

Productivity loss for when a person reports sick or is missing from the place of work count as indirect costs which arise from gambling addiction. Besides these, in this category, there are also other intangible costs such as the extra emotional burden on family members.

According to the researchers, Norway spends around 526 million Euro per year to offset the direct and indirect costs. For example, around 33 million Euro are necessary to offer therapy for Norwegian gambling addicts. Besides these, the indirect costs run up to around 250 million Euro. One must also take into account the intangible costs for the gambling addicts, which according to researchers amount to around 195 million Euro.

It is a fact, that problematic gambling is a public health problem and for this reason, it is very important that players who are in danger of addiction are protected. In a somewhat older handbook of last year, we had asked, how one can recognise gambling addiction and fight it effectively.

Conclusion

Problematic and pathological gambling behaviour amount to yearly high expenses not only in Norway, but also in most other European countries. It is especially important that players who are in danger are helped as early as possible and that professional advice is offered.  

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