Common Misconceptions of Gambling Risks & Harms
Breaking the Stigma: The Validity of Gambling Disorder as a Mental Health Concern
Gambling as an addiction is actually classified in the DSM. That’s the tool that psychiatrists use to identify and determine what type of psychological issues people are struggling with.
Addiction is not a term I use in my work, but it’s a valid term, and the thing that’s important when thinking about gambling as a possible addiction is that it’s a health concern, a mental health concern.
The common misconceptions that people have are that it’s a lifestyle choice, it’s a habit, it’s behaviour, it’s a moral weakness, people are greedy, and they’re lazy. Sometimes we even deal with more stigmatizing language such as stupid, and I’ve even heard degenerate being used.
What is Gambling Disorder?
When someone actually meets a clinical threshold for being diagnosed with a mental health condition, they call it Gambling Disorder (clinically). That means that they’ve really been affected in terms of their mental health and their physical health, along with their psychosocial health because of gambling problems.
Treatment for Gambling Disorder
The other flipside to that is that there is qualified treatment available, and that’s something that most people don’t know. People who meet the criteria for gambling disorder tend not to know that. So that’s really important because if you have an issue with your heart there’s a cardiologist. If you have an issue with gambling addiction there’s specialists, therapeutic specialists, and there’s psychiatrist specialists who can help.
Learn more about Focal Research's Safer Gambling Solutions
ALeRT is a data-driven real-world solution to help prevent gambling risk and harm.
The system integrates corporate social responsibility best practices and technologies across a modern enterprise, helping move operators into an active prevention role. It does this by identifying at-risk players, supporting effective customer interactions, and evaluating the impact of such interactions in reducing customer risk and harm.
The ALeRT BETTOR Customer Care Training program is intended as an ancillary resource for gambling operators to use in addition to their own policies, practices and staff training.
This training program provides service staff with additional information and skill sets for undertaking effective customer interactions as part of normal customer care. This in turn helps gamblers make better decisions, making gambling safer for all those choosing to gamble.
Our Healthy Bottom Line brochures are helpful guides that provide insight into gambling risk, and harm and provide professional encouragement to safeguard your patrons from risky play patterns that may develop into long-term issues.
With six different brochures, each brochure is customized and branded for each operator to provide information that is relevant and meaningful to their customers. Materials are available in both print and digital formats.
