ABSTRACT
The recent expansion of gambling from purely land-based activities to a range of online offerings has increased both accessibility and acceptability of gambling around the world. Gambling is always accessible across interactive media like mobile phones and tablets. As a result, there exist few safeguards against underage gambling or excessive gambling by members of specific demographic groups that experience higher rates of problem gambling. In 2013, gambling disorder was classified as the first behavioral addiction in the DSM-5, at parity with substance use disorders in diagnostic classification manuals. However, social work has been slow to recognize this growing public health issue, largely maintaining an exclusive focus on substance-based addictions and failing to train practitioners in the education, prevention, identification, and treatment of gambling disorder. The purpose of this chapter is to familiarize social workers with the nature, course, and scope of gambling addiction, including: (a) terminology and history of the disorder; (b) prevalence across populations; (c) etiological influences; (d) comorbidity; (e) diagnosis and treatment; and (f) implications and emerging issues for social work.
