Gambling participation, gambling habits, gambling-related harm, and opinions on gambling advertising in Finland in 2016

BACKGROUND: This report is an overview of results from the 2016 Finnish Gambling Harms Survey covering the population and clinical perspectives. It summarises the main findings on gambling participation, gambling habits, gambling-related harm, and opinions on gambling advertising. METHODS: The population sample (n = 7186) was collected from three regions and the clinical sample (n = 119) in a gambling help clinic. RESULTS: Frequency of gambling in the population sample was characteristically once a week, while in the clinical sample it was daily. Men gambled more often than women only in the population sample. The most common gambling environments were kiosks, grocery stores or supermarkets, and home. The most typical gambling-related harms were financial or emotional/psychological harms; the amount of experienced harm was considerable among the clinical sample. The clinical sample also perceived gambling advertising as obtrusive and as a driving force for gambling. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the clinical sample imply that when gambling gets out of hand, the distinctions between gamblers’ habits diminish and become more streamlined, focusing on gambling per se – doing it often, and in greater varieties (different game types). There is a heightened need to monitor gambling and gambling-related harm at the population level, especially amongst heavy consumers, in order to understand what type of external factors pertaining to policy and governance may contribute to the shift from recreational to problem gambling.