Previous studies have usually assessed the monetary impact of gambling. These studies often fail to consider the non-financial impact of gambling, such as the impact on quality of life. Furthermore, most of these studies have focused on problem gamblers. However, non-problem gamblers may also experience harm due to gambling. Any measure of the impact of gambling at a population level will need to consider gamblers who are at-risk but are not yet problem gamblers.
To measure the impact on quality of life at a population level, the researchers suggest the use of “years of life lost to disability” (YLD). This measure takes into account the prevalence of at-risk and problem gambling in a population and disability weights. Disability weight assesses the impact of a disease or health condition on an individual’s quality of life, ranging on a scale from 0 (perfect health) to 1 (death). The aim of this study was to apply the YLD assessment to determine the burden of gambling-related harm in Victoria, Australia.
