Gambling can seriously damage your health

Abstract

Gambling is one of the earliest forms of entertainment and an ancient activity, possibly dating as far back as the middle pre-history Palaeolithic era (circa 50,000 years ago). Dice, dating to before 3,000BC, have been discovered in ancient Mesopotamia (now Western Asia), gambling houses have been recorded in China in 1,000BC, early playing cards in the 800s AD, and the first casino opened in Venice, Italy in 1638. Gambling, gaming and betting have been defined interchangeably but, arguably, equate to one another. Gambling is known to become addictive, and is reinforced by repeated losses. It can be stratified, ranging from ‘none’, to ‘occasional’, ‘recreational’, ‘at risk’, ‘problem’ and finally ‘pathological’ gamblers. However, this is a continuum and all ‘problem gamblers’ started off as non-gamblers and ‘worked their way up the ladder’. Gambling is mostly associated with male gender, and ‘pathological gamblers’ make up around 0.1-3.0 (median 1.5)% of any given western population, increasing to 2.3-13.0 (median 5.4)% if ‘problem’ and ‘pathological’ gamblers are combined.