Gambling-Related Violence: An Issue for the Police?
| Published date | 01 September 2005 |
| Author | Mark Griffiths,Adrian Parke,Jonathan Parke |
| Date | 01 September 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2005.78.3.223 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MARK GRIFFITHS, ADRIAN PARKE
AND JONATHAN PARKE
International Gaming Research Unit
Psychology Division
Nottingham Trent University
GAMBLING-RELATED VIOLENCE:
AN ISSUE FOR THE POLICE?
The co-relationship between addiction, violence and gambling
is only just emerging. Police intervention may be needed in
two main areas: (i) violence caused as a result of gamblers
taking out their anger over losses on their partners; and
(ii) violence caused by gamblers taking out their anger over
losses on either the staff of the gambling premises or on other
punters. This article reviews the research in this area and
concludes that gambling-related violence can and does occur,
and that when it does, it is definitely an issue for the police.
The co-relationship between addiction, violence and health has
been much reported, particularly in relation to alcohol abuse.
However, the relationship between violence and gambling is
only just emerging. There are two areas where police inter-
vention may be needed. The first instance is domestic violence
caused as a result of gamblers taking out their anger over losses
on their partners. The second instance is violence within
gambling environments where gamblers take out their anger over
losses on either the staff of the gambling premises or on
other punters.
There has been far more research on gambling and violence
abroad than here in the UK. For instance, the National Gambling
Impact Study Commission (1999) reported in the US that the
introduction of casinos would bring increased violent crime,
especially more domestic violence and child abuse. There
appears to be some evidence to support this. For instance,
Muellman, Den Otter, Wadman, Tran and Anderson (2002)
found that intimate partner violence (IPV) was predicted by
pathological gambling in the perpetrator. Their sample consisted
of 286 women aged 19 to 65 years who were admitted to the
emergency department at a university hospital in Nebraska.
Researchers administered a 45-item questionnaire on relationship
status, problem gambling and IPV. After adjusting for age,
education and ethnicity, logistic regression showed that a woman
The Police Journal, Volume 78 (2005) 223
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