The Commercial Determinants of Gambling Harms

The global gambling industry is growing at an exponential rate, expanding in countries with little prior experience of commercial gambling and often with few regulatory controls. Like other Unhealthy Commodities Industries, gambling corporations deploy a range of tactics to influence policy and behaviours in their own commercial interest. This presentation will outline the main features of the Commercial Determinants of Gambling Harms.

In this presentation, the authors will systematically outline how the range of products and practices deployed by the gambling industry form part of the commercial determinants of health, and combined, with the political economy for gambling, form a crucial part of the harm production system for gambling harms. This includes mapping trends in product developments and deployment; reviewing use of advertising, marketing and data-driven profiling; and, examining how industry frame policy and public perspectives, lobby for their own interests and shape the evidence base. Presenters will draw on global examples and evidence to demonstrate these actions.

The presentation will conclude with recommendations for addressing these drivers of harms, including gambling legislation which focuses on the primary priority of protecting public health and discuss the feasibility of this.