The bi-directional relationship between gambling and addictive substances

The aim of this study is to measure the impact of gambling activity on health among a sample of 709 gamblers in Sardinia (Italy). In fact, gambling is often associated with other lifestyle risk factors that increase the negative effect of such activity. In this paper a multivariate probit approach is proposed in order to document the relationship between gambling expenditures and other addictive behaviours, namely smoking, alcohol and drugs consumption, controlling for a set of individual and gambling characteristics along with emotional and psychological factors. The findings show a bidirectional effect between gambling involvement and alcohol and drugs consumption. Moreover, betting more money leads to an increase in the propensity to consume tobacco in the middle of the game. Then, the co-occurrence of two and/or three of the addictive substances under study drives up the probability to get more involved in gambling activity.