Oral Presentation (max 25mins) The National Suicide Prevention Conference 2024

A model of the commercial determinants of gambling-related harm, self-harm and suicide (101737)

Angela C Rintoul 1 , Britt Klein 2 , Suzanne McLaren 3 , Kerrie Shandley 2
  1. Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University Australia, Churchill, VIC, Australia
  2. Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University Australia, Mt Helen, Victoria, Australia
  3. School of Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia

The commercial determinants of health have been defined as the ‘systems, practices and pathways in which commercial actors influence health’. They can influence everything from individual behaviour, to the design of the built environment, to systems of global finance and trade. The commercial gambling ecosystem (e.g. operators, manufacturers, media, banks, IT and telecommunications, software developers) is a powerful global entity with the capacity to produce widespread harms to the health and wellbeing of individuals, populations, and societies. Harms associated with gambling include criminal activity, loss of assets, family violence, separation and divorce, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, suicidality, self-harm and suicide. Gambling is now recognised as a risk factor for suicide in England's Suicide Prevention Strategy. Informed by our research that showed an estimated 4.2% of suicides in Victoria were gambling-related, and that this is an underestimate due to the lack of systematic investigation through the coronial system, as well as interviews with those who have been bereaved by or experienced gambling-related suicidality, we outline a model of the commercial determinants of gambling-related harm, self-harm and suicide.

  • At the system level this includes state-level taxation arrangements that create dependencies on gambling revenues, and support services directly funded by gambling revenue, often described by those who use them as ineffective.
  • At the political level it includes lobbying, donations, and the ‘revolving door’ between parliamentarians and gambling operators.
  • At the scientific level it involves funding research, the often emphasises complexity and downplays the role of gambling in harm.
  • Marketing and corporate social responsibility activities serve as legitimation tools, and build a social license for their operations.
  • Gambling products are increasingly supercharged enabling substantial losses. They also appear in video games and are available around-the-clock via the internet and smartphone applications.

These levels of harm production are underpinned by the discourse of ‘responsible gambling’ that frames gambling as harmless fun and those harmed by their products as the source of the problem. This generates stigma and shame, preventing people from seeking help. This carefully manages the reputation of the industry to prevent the adoption of meaningful reforms that will reduce harm. Observing gambling-related harm as part of a model of commercial determinants may be useful for the suicide prevention sector to consider the systemic and structural forces that contribute to self-harm, suicidality and death. Disrupting these determinants can prevent suicide.