[Structural prevention measures for gambling disorders: from public health to clinical practice]

Gambling regulation includes provisions for structural prevention. Focusing on the individual health condition rather than the object of addiction can hinder the implementation of coherent measures to protect public health. The Swiss Gambling Act lists the prevention of excessive gambling as one of its objectives. For casinos and online gambling, operators must identify and exclude individuals who gamble beyond their means. The websites of unlicensed operators in Switzerland are blocked. Access is prohibited to minors, and advertising may not target them specifically. The actual implementation is susceptible to conflicts of interest and must be evaluated. For clinicians, taking these framework conditions into account contributes to the early detection, assessment, and integration of exclusion and restriction options.