The Impact of Non-problem Gambling on Gamblers

Abstract

A small percentage of gamblers are addictive to gambling and become problem or pathological gamblers. Gambling addiction hurts the gamblers, their families and the community. It is one of reasons why legalized gaming is contentious and a lot of researches have been focused on problem gambling. However, very few studies on the impact of non-problem gambling have been done. We interviewed 2289 Macao residents by telephone and collected their gambling behavior, perceived social support from family, mental health and their social economic and demographic data. The preliminary analysis shows that non-problem gamblers’ perceived social support from family, general health questionnaire score are not significantly different from non-gamblers. It seems that non-problem gambling has not significant negative impact on gambler’s wellbeing. Gambling can be a leisure activity to non-problem gamblers. It is only a static study. More research needs to be done on the dynamics of gambling impact.