The problem

Gambling addiction is a serious problem for those who experience it and for those around them. We had little insight into the people who access treatment for gambling addiction in Ireland and knowing more about their situations could help us to design and deliver better treatments.

The project

HRB researchers analysed almost 3,000 anonymised cases of people undergoing treatment for gambling addiction between 2008 and 2019 in Ireland. They examined factors such as gender, educational status, homelessness and combination with drug and alcohol addiction.

The outcomes

  • This was the first Irish national study that used routinely gathered health surveillance data from the HRB’s National Drug Treatment Reporting System to describe treated problem gambling
  • In the dataset analysed, we now know that nine out of 10 cases being treated for gambling addiction were men, just under one in 13 were homeless and one in five lived with dependent children
  • The research found that problem gambling was often not the only issue, with almost half of cases reporting substance addiction problems too. The most frequently reported was alcohol, but also cannabis, cocaine and benzodiazepines.
  • The study was presented at two European conferences on addiction.

Ita Condron, Research Analyst with the National Health Information Systems, at the HRB, says:

“There is limited research on gambling treatment and gambling-related harm in Ireland. This research will help fill the gaps in knowledge and research in this area and inform approaches to gambling treatment programmes in Ireland.”

“Gambling addiction – new insights to help inform treatment in Ireland” is part of a wider collection of success stories across four themes from this year’s annual Health Research in Action. Download the full publication.