The association between gambling and financial, social and health outcomes in big financial data

Muggleton, Naomi; Parpart, Paula; Newall, Philip; Leake, David; Gathergood, John; Stewart, Neil

doi:10.1038/s41562-020-01045-w

The association between gambling and financial, social and health outcomes in big financial data

Muggleton, Naomi; Parpart, Paula; Newall, Philip; Leake, David; Gathergood, John; Stewart, Neil

Authors

Naomi Muggleton

Paula Parpart

Philip Newall

David Leake

JOHN GATHERGOOD JOHN.GATHERGOOD@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of Economics

Neil Stewart

Abstract

Gambling is an ordinary pastime for some people, but is associated with addiction and harmful outcomes for others. Evidence of these harms is limited to small sample, crosssectional self-reports, such as prevalence surveys. We examine the association between gambling as a proportion of monthly income and 31 financial, social, and health outcomes using anonymous data provided by a UK retail bank, aggregated for up to 6.5 million individuals over up to seven years. Gambling is associated with higher financial distress and lower financial inclusion and planning, and negative lifestyle, health, well-being, and leisure outcomes. Gambling is associated with higher rates of future unemployment, physical disability, and, at the highest levels, substantially increased mortality. Gambling is persistent over time, growing over the sample period, and has higher negative associations among the heaviest gamblers. Our findings inform the debate over the relationship between gambling and life experiences across the population.

Citation

Muggleton, N., Parpart, P., Newall, P., Leake, D., Gathergood, J., & Stewart, N. (2021). The association between gambling and financial, social and health outcomes in big financial data. Nature Human Behaviour, 5, 319-326. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01045-w

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 23, 2020
Online Publication Date	Feb 4, 2021
Publication Date	2021-03
Deposit Date	Jan 5, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Aug 5, 2021
Journal	Nature Human Behaviour
Electronic ISSN	2397-3374
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	5
Pages	319-326
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01045-w
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5200578
Publisher URL	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01045-w