Social costs of gambling problems: Evidence from Finnish Administrative Data

Session Title

Public Health: Social Costs & Economic Burden

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Start Date

27-5-2026 12:00 AM

Abstract

Gambling generates significant social burdens beyond personal financial losses. These burdens include increased demand for healthcare and social services, reduced workplace productivity, criminal justice costs, and diminished quality of life for individuals and families. There have been highly heterogenous approaches to calculating the social costs of gambling and estimates of these costs have varied greatly. However, the use of large-scale administrative datasets may offer deeper insights into these societal impacts. This study examines how diagnosed Gambling disorder (GD) is associated with outcomes such as life expectancy, welfare payments, and socioeconomic status, using a unique dataset from Finland. The data include: (1) healthcare service records from the Care Register including information on gambling problems (diagnosed GD (F63.0) and problems related to lifestyle: gambling and betting (Z72.6), and (2) individual-level background information on the Finnish adult population from Statistics Finland (e.g., personal income, education, socioeconomic status). We expect to present descriptive results of the study at the conference.

Author Bios

I am Tuomo Kainulainen, a university lecturer at the Business School of the University of Eastern Finland. My research interests focus on the economics of gambling markets and behavioral economics. I am also a member of an international research group dedicated to studying risk behavior in gambling markets.

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May 27th, 12:00 AM

Social costs of gambling problems: Evidence from Finnish Administrative Data

Gambling generates significant social burdens beyond personal financial losses. These burdens include increased demand for healthcare and social services, reduced workplace productivity, criminal justice costs, and diminished quality of life for individuals and families. There have been highly heterogenous approaches to calculating the social costs of gambling and estimates of these costs have varied greatly. However, the use of large-scale administrative datasets may offer deeper insights into these societal impacts. This study examines how diagnosed Gambling disorder (GD) is associated with outcomes such as life expectancy, welfare payments, and socioeconomic status, using a unique dataset from Finland. The data include: (1) healthcare service records from the Care Register including information on gambling problems (diagnosed GD (F63.0) and problems related to lifestyle: gambling and betting (Z72.6), and (2) individual-level background information on the Finnish adult population from Statistics Finland (e.g., personal income, education, socioeconomic status). We expect to present descriptive results of the study at the conference.