Prevention of Problem Gambling: A Comprehensive Review of the Evidence and Identified Best Practices

Abstract

The past 15 years has seen a considerable amount of interest and effort being put into developing strategies to prevent problem gambling. Unfortunately, the development, implementation, and evaluation of most of these initiatives has been a haphazard process. Most have been put in place because they ‘seemed like good ideas’ and/or were being used in other jurisdictions, rather than having demonstrated scientific efficacy or being derived from a good understanding of effective practices in prevention.The primary purpose of the present document is to help change this state of affairs. More specifically, by: Proposing an etiological framework for understanding how problem gambling develops based on the available evidence and drawing from established models of addictive behaviour. Comprehensively evaluating the effectiveness of the various initiatives that have been used around the world to prevent problem gambling based on their demonstrated efficacy and/or their similarity to initiatives that are empirically effective in preventing other addictive behaviour. Based on this etiological framework and this critical review of the research, identifying current ‘best practices’ for the prevention of problem gambling.

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