Whether you’re betting on the next big sports event or putting money down on a scratch ticket, gambling involves risking something of value in the hope of gaining more. It can be a fun way to pass the time, but it’s important to know the risks and how to get help if you or someone you care about has a problem.

The impact of gambling can be felt at the personal, interpersonal, and community/society levels. These impacts include financial, labor, and health and well-being effects that affect those who gamble, as well as their families and friends. Gambling can also lead to escalating debt and homelessness, affecting entire communities.

A lack of robust, nationally representative individual-level data has led to a shortage of reliable evidence on gambling’s negative and positive effects. Several methodological limitations have contributed to this deficit, including: a lack of definitions and consistent measures of gambling activity; the difficulty of measuring gambling-related costs and benefits; and the confounding effect of unobserved variables. Nonetheless, the research that is available suggests that gambling harms tend to be more severe for low-income individuals and those living in areas with greater availability of gambling venues. Furthermore, the literature demonstrates that stepping away from gambling can result in improved mental health and better budgeting skills, allowing people to save money that would have been spent on losses and focus on meeting their financial goals. Moreover, addressing underlying mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, can reduce the urge to gamble.