Crime and chance: Understanding the relationship between neighbourhood crime and gambling

Gambling is a significant public health issue with complex socioeconomic determinants. While previous research has explored the individual and environmental factors influencing gambling behaviour, the relationship between crime and gambling remains underexamined with previous focus mainly on the impact of gambling on crime. Here we examine the impact of neighbourhood crime on gambling.

Observational longitudinal study.

Longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey were used. These data were merged with neighbourhood (postcode) crime data from official police statistics. We used fixed-effect regression models that allow us to address concerns relating to omitted variable bias and potential sorting of participants into neighbourhoods.

We find that an increase in neighbourhood crime is associated with an increase in gambling-related harm (B = 0.021, 95 % CI [0.002, 0.041]). This finding is robust to a set of robustness tests including tests that examine alternative indicators of gambling as well as different types of crime. We find that social capital measured using perceived neighbourhood trust, perceived safety and mental health are channels through which crime influences gambling behaviour.

Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing gambling should consider addressing the broader social context, including neighbourhood safety and social cohesion.