Stratificazione sociale e gioco d'azzardo : una rassegna ragionata

The recent regulation of legal gaming in Italy and the growing opportunities to gamble have determined widespread awareness about problem gambling severity. Thus, the issue is on the top of the national political agenda since gambling harmful effects, far from affecting only individual, entail negative consequences for society. Therefore, evidence emerging in the literature invite to develop studies testing the hypothesis that excessive gambling behavior is more common among the population groups with low socioeconomic status, updating theoretical approaches of social stratification of gambling. It could guide prospective studies that may generate reliable estimates of the incidence of problems, determine temporal sequence and changes in gambling and problem gambling, and identify risk and protective factors. Such estimates are likely to have evidence based operational impacts, since theoretically driven and scientifically correct analysis may help policymakers in enhancing selective measures of prevention an

d adjusting the existing help services for gamblers. [Publishers' text].