Legacy Gambling Harms: What Happens Once the Gambling Stops?

This article reviews current research that investigates legacy harms; the types of legacy harm, how long they last and whether evidence suggests these harms are real or instead imagined injuries or reflections on past regrets.Recent FindingsLegacy harms to individuals can be broadly categorised as including financial, relationship, emotional/psychological, health, culture, work/study and criminal/deviance harms. In addition, legacy harms affect entire communities by drawing funds and social capital away from vulnerable communities, leaving them socially, culturally and materially impoverished. Most legacy harms that accrue to gamblers have a half-life of 4  years, although financial harms last somewhat longer at 5 years. Greater distance in time from a past gambling issue is reliably and positively related to health and well-being indicators, including the Health Utility Index and the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, which suggests that legacy gamb ling harms are real and have a lasting impact on well-being, rather than just imagined hardship from prior gambling difficulties.SummaryThese findings suggest programme and policy development to support gamblers in reducing and managing their legacy harms, rather than focusing only on relapse prevention.
Source: Current Addiction Reports - Category: Addiction Source Type: research