ABSTRACT
The first section of this chapter explains the notion of social costs and the relevance of the concept for excessive gambling prevention, and it reviews the state of scientific knowledge at the time (Switzerland and other developed countries). The second section focuses on the methodology for assessing direct, indirect and quality of life costs of excessive gambling. The main difficulty to assess indirect (productivity) costs is endogeneity: work incapacity may be attributable to problem gambling, but problem gambling may also be a side effect of work incapacity or unemployment. The main challenge to measure loss in quality of life due to excessive gambling is to find a measurement instrument sensitive enough to detect relatively small (psychosocial) impairments in quality of life. The next section entails the presentation of data (Swiss health survey 2012, medical data), a model in which the dependent variable is the occupation rate, and the independent variables the characteristics of individuals (gender, age, socioeconomic status, etc.) as well as the individual’s profile (gambles recreationally, at risk of gambling excessively, gambles excessively). Finally, the social costs of excessive gambling for Switzerland is compared to estimates for comparable countries.
