With the arrival of the internet, gambling was transformed. It became easier to access and market gambling products. Data published this week show how this continues lure an increasing number of people in Switzerland to bet, which is pushing up the number of people with a gambling addiction.
According to the report by an organisation called GREA, around 308,000 people living in Switzerland suffer from an addiction to gambling. Between 2017 and 2022 the percentage of the population with a gambling problem rose from 3.1% to 4.3%, a 39% jump. The portion with a serious (pathological) addiction rose from 0.2% to 0.5%, a rise of 150%.
Most affected are young people, young men in particular. 7.9% of men aged 15-24 have an unhealthy relationship with gambling and 1.7% are seriously addicted. Overall 5.7% of men and 2.8% of women have a gambling problem.
Those in French-speaking Switzerland (6.0%) are worse affected than those in German- (3.1%) or Italian-speaking (4.4%) Switzerland.
Education helps once people have a tertiary qualification. Overall, 4.5% of those failing to complete school and those completing school have a gambling problem, compared to 2.7% of those graduating with a tertiary qualification.
Scott Galloway, a professor at New York University Stern School of Business, describes online gambling as a digital substitute for making economic progress in the real world. Increasingly, young men are struggling in education and other areas of life. This in turn makes them susceptible to gambling advertising and the legions of already supposedly fabulously wealthy social media influencers who still seem to need another $50 off their viewers.
More on this:
GREA article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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