Impact (Australia)
According to the Productivity Commissions 2010 final report into gambling, the social cost of problem gambling is close to 4.7 billion dollars a year. Some of the harms resulting from problem gambling include depression, suicide, lower work productivity, job loss, relationship breakdown, crime and bankruptcy. A survey conducted in 2008 found that the most common motivation for fraud was problem gambling, with each incident averaging a loss of $1.1 million. According to Darren R. Christensen. Nicki A. Dowling, Alun C. Jackson and Shane A.Thomas a survey done from 1994 to 2008 in Tasmania gave results that gambling participation rates have risen rather than fallen over this period. Prevalence
Europe
In Europe, the rate of problem gambling is typically 0.5 to 3 percent. The "British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007", conducted by the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, found approximately 0.6 percent of the adult population had problem gambling issues—the same percentage as in 1999. The highest prevalence of problem gambling was found among those who participated in spread betting (14.7%), fixed odds betting terminals (11.2%), and betting exchanges (9.8%). In Norway, a December 2007 study showed the amount of current problem gamblers was 0.7 percent.With gambling addiction on the rise worldwide and across Europe in particular, those calling gambling a disease have been gaining grounds. The UK Gambling Commission announced a significant shift in their approach to gambling through their reclassification of gambling as a disease, and therefore, it should be addressed adequately by the NHS. The World Health Organization has also classified gambling a disease.
Problem gambling or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to DSM-5 if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is a common disorder that is associated with both social and family costs. The DSM-5 has re-classified the condition as an addictive disorder, with those affected exhibiting many similarities to those who have substance addictions. The term gambling addiction has long been used in the recovery movement. Pathological gambling was long considered by the American Psychiatric Association to be an impulse-control disorder rather than an addiction. However, data suggest a closer relationship between pathological gambling and substance use disorders than exists between PG and obsessive-compulsive disorder, largely because the behaviors in problem gambling and most primary substance use disorders (i.e. those not resulting from a desire to "self-medicate" for another condition such as depression) seek to activate the brains reward mechanisms while the behaviors characterizing obsessive-compulsive disorder are prompted by overactive and misplaced signals from the brains fear mechanisms.Problem gambling is an addictive behavior with a high comorbidity with alcohol problems. A common tendency shared by people who have a gambling addiction is impulsivity. Signs and symptoms
Research by governments in Australia led to a universal definition for that country which appears to be the only research-based definition not to use diagnostic criteria: "Problem gambling is characterized by many difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, others, or for the community."