Gambling is the wagering of something of value on a random event with an intent to win something else of value (including the opportunity for a prize or a reward). This activity can take place in a variety of settings including casinos, racetracks, sporting events and online. While most people who gamble do so without problems, a subset develops gambling disorder, defined by the American Psychiatric Association in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as an ongoing pattern of gambling behavior that causes substantial distress or impairment. People with this condition lie about the extent of their gambling or attempt to hide their involvement by hiding money or lying to family members and therapists; they are unable to control their urges, often repeatedly attempting to recover lost funds, and may engage in illegal activities like stealing to fund their gambling.

While gambling does provide economic benefits, such as increased tax revenues and profit for gambling businesses, it has also had negative social impacts on society. These social impacts have been observed at the personal, interpersonal, and community/society levels. However, key methodological challenges have impeded their proper measurement, including the difficulty of assigning monetary values to non-monetary impacts – a target explicated by Williams et al. [32].