gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

OVERALL SOCIAL IMPACTS
Legalized gambling in Alberta has some important positive social impacts offset by some
important negative social impacts.
One of the major social benefits concerns the fact that Albertans are the direct recipients and
primary beneficiaries of maintained and/or enhanced government and charity/community
services that are funded by the roughly $2 billion dollars annually that the provincial
government and charity/community organizations have collected in net gambling revenue in
the past few years. This money represents about 5% of provincial government revenue and a
significant source of funding for community groups.
Gambling also provides enhanced leisure options, with more than 70% of the Alberta adult
population participating in this form of entertainment. For a small minority of people (4.6%)
gambling has become a favourite form of entertainment.
Legal gambling has also significantly decreased illegal gambling. Widespread disregard for the
rule of law is never a good thing for society, and illegal gambling was quite prevalent prior to
legalization.
Although the gambling industry does not represent a large number of jobs in the Alberta
workforce (~0.4%), it would seem that at least a few thousand new positions have been created
without any obvious negative impact or cannibalization from other industries (other than
perhaps bingo and horse racing to a limited extent).
The major negative social impact of legalized gambling is problem gambling, which currently
occurs in 2% to 3% of the population, and which directly or indirectly impacts 8% to 10% of the
population. The lifetime rates of problem gambling are also considerably higher than the past
year rates.
Problem gamblers typically have high rates of mental health problems, financial problems, and
relationship problems deriving from their addiction. A smaller minority will have more serious
problems/consequences associated with their gambling. In any given year a small percentage
of problem gamblers report serious negative consequences deriving from their gambling:
committing an illegal act (7%); being the perpetrator or recipient of domestic violence (4%);
separating or divorcing (4%); filing for bankruptcy (3%; representing ~10% to 20% of all
consumer insolvencies); losing their jobs (1%); child welfare involvement (1%); incarceration
(0.2%); attempted suicide (1.5%). It is estimated that roughly 46 to 55 problem gamblers a year
actually commit suicide (~10% of all Alberta suicides).
However, the legal availability of gambling is only partly responsible for the increased rates of
problem gambling. Problem gambling existed in Alberta long before legalized gambling. That
being said, legalization of any product (including gambling) tends to lead to increased
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