Measuring the Burden of Gambling Harm in New Zealand

Abstract

The Ministry of Health engaged Central Queensland University’s (CQU) Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory and Auckland University of Technology’s (AUT) Gambling and Addictions Research Centre to develop a framework and a methodology for understanding and measuring gambling-related harm in the New Zealand population.

The aim of the project was to systematically investigate gambling-related harm in New Zealand, and assess the aggregate ‘Burden of Harm’ caused by gambling with reference to different levels of problem gambling, and other comparable conditions. This improved understanding of the quality and quantity of harm will help to better target efforts to prevent or reduce the potential negative consequences of problematic gambling.