Gambling severity and the use of general health care and social services: a nationwide population survey of service use and associated factors

INTRODUCTION: Gambling-related harms constitute a significant public health concern, with adverse effects ranging from financial difficulties to mental health disorders. Therefore, people experiencing gambling-related harm may need different kinds of health care and social services. METHODS: This study examines the social and health care usage between gambling severity groups. We aim to examine whether people with recreational, risk or problem gambling use more social and health care services compared to non-gamblers, and what increases the probability to use social and health care services for people who gamble on different levels of risk for harms. The study used data from the population-based Healthy Finland survey (N=28,153, 46%) Results: Our results show that individuals with problem gambling more commonly experienced social and health vulnerabilities. Among individuals with problem gambling, 86% had utilized health care services, and 18% social care services during the past year, which was somewhat higher than among individuals who did not gamble. Among different gambling severity groups, it seemed, that the use of health care services is less common among men, younger individuals, people with excessive alcohol use and among those with higher income. Individuals in the problem gambling groups were 2.1 times more likely to utilize health care services than non-gambling group. Among individuals with problem gambling and low-risk gambling groups, the utilization of social services was more common among those with lower income, individuals experiencing psychological distress and long-standing illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide new knowledge on how people with different levels of risk for gambling harm use social and health services, and support to develop social and health services in responding to gambling problems.