Time and money spent gambling and the relationship with quality-of-life measures: A national study of New Zealanders

Abstract

This study provides quantitative measures of the impacts of gambling from a general population sample exposed to a range of gambling opportunities. New tools to assess the level of gambling participation and quality-of-life measures were used in a telephone survey with 7,010 adults in New Zealand. The findings show that people with higher gambling loss reported significantly poorer physical health, mental health, relationships, feelings about self, quality of life, satisfaction with life, living standards, and study performance. When respondents' reports of quality of life in the various domains were analysed in relation to the time spent gambling in different modes, it was clear that time spent on electronic gaming machines provided the greatest risk for people's quality of life. This study estimated that 2.4% of the population had an inferior state of reported mental well-being as a result of gambling. The main contribution came from the playing of electronic gaming machines.