Playing the lottery or scratch cards may not be harmless, research suggests.<\/p>\n
Although often considered good fun, these mild forms of gambling could be a gateway to troublesome behaviour.<\/p>\n
Read more: Gambling loophole must be shut down<\/p>\n
Scientists from Curtin University in Perth looked at the gambling habits of more than 2,000 people.<\/p>\n
Of the 540 who regularly bought lottery tickets, almost a third reported gambling-related issues like financial difficulties, psychological problems or relationship red flags.<\/p>\n
Scratch cards were found to be particularly harmful, possibly due to the instant result and impression players came close to winning.<\/p>\n
Playing the lottery may not be 'harmless'. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A survey of 8,000 adults found more than half (56%) of people in England gambled in 2016, but just 0.7% thought they had a problem.<\/p>\n
In the US, almost 10 million (2.6%) are said to be addicted to gambling.<\/p>\n
Lottery tickets and scratch cards are often considered harmless, despite little research into their impact.<\/p>\n
To learn more, the Australian scientists focused on the 540 participants who bought lottery tickets.<\/p>\n
Read more: Philippine police arrest 90 Chinese for illegal gambling<\/p>\n
Results, published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, suggest almost a third of the players had some level of gambling-related risk due to their use of lotteries products.<\/p>\n
This was more common among the young, male participants. Smokers, vapers and scratch card users were also more at risk.<\/p>\n
Lottery tickets aside, other milder forms of gambling may also be more dangerous than they seem.<\/p>\n
The data revealed scratchies were particularly harmful, said lead author Leon Booth.<\/p>\n
We believe this is because some features of scratchies make them more appealing to problem gamblers, such as instantly letting the user know if they have won a prize and giving users the impression they were close to winning.<\/p>\n
We also found people who are generally vulnerable to developing gambling issues, such as younger adults and males, were most likely to experience problems with lottery gambling.<\/p>\n
Read more: Vegas casinos reopen after long coronavirus closure<\/p>\n
The scientists want people to be more aware of the risks of lottery tickets and scratch cards.<\/p>\n
The public needs to understand lottery products such as scratchies and lotto tickets are a true form of gambling and are therefore inappropriate gifts for children and youth, said study author Professor Simone Pettigrew.<\/p>\n
Lottery products need to be acknowledged as more than harmless fun and a genuine type ofgambling, andpolicymakersshould act accordingly to reduce harms that result from these products.<\/p>\n
Our new findings add to an increasing body of evidence showinglotteryproducts are associated with harm in a substantial minority of users.<\/p>\n
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Lottery and scratch cards not harmless forms of gambling - Yahoo Sports<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Playing the lottery or scratch cards may not be harmless, research suggests. Although often considered good fun, these mild forms of gambling could be a gateway to troublesome behaviour. Continue reading