Class Description
With gambling, risk is inherent—it is built into the activity itself. However, research consistently shows that certain individual, social, and structural factors can increase the likelihood that gambling-related harm will emerge. In the digital era, these risks are intensified by constant connectivity, rapid technological change, and evolving gambling environments, further complicating an already complex public health issue.
This course examines well-established risk factors for gambling disorder while exploring how digital technologies intersect with equity, access, and harm. Taking a strength-based and prevention-oriented approach, the training also highlights how the same mechanisms that elevate risk—such as technology, connectivity, and engagement—can be strategically leveraged to support harm reduction, recovery, and resilience.
Grounded in both clinical practice and lived experience, the course integrates real-world examples from counseling work and personal recovery to offer practical insights, deepen understanding, and foster meaningful learning for professionals working across treatment, social services, and policy settings.
Learning Objectives
- Identify at least 5 structural and technological factors that increase gambling risk in digital environments (e.g., availability, speed, inducements, constant access, and platform design)
- Describe at least 4 demographic or social groups that experience disproportionate gambling-related harm, including youth, emerging adults, financially stressed individuals, and marginalized communities
- List at least 3 psychological or emotional vulnerabilities associated with increased gambling harm in online and in-play gambling formats.
- Identify 4 examples of gambling-adjacent or gamblified products that blur the line between gaming, investing, and gambling (e.g., loot boxes, in-play betting, crypto trading, inducements)
- Describe at least 4 harm-reduction or prevention strategies that leverage digital platforms, lived experience, or social norm interventions to support recovery and resilience
Educational Goals
- Increase understanding of how digital gambling environments amplify risk, harm, and loss of control
- Strengthen awareness of equity-related and social determinants that shape gambling exposure and outcomes
- Promote recognition of emerging gambling-adjacent products as a growing public health concern
- Support prevention and harm-reduction efforts that move beyond individual responsibility toward informed choice
- Encourage integration of clinical insight and lived experience to improve engagement, education, and recovery outcomes
Outline
- Introduction to the evolution of gambling products in the digital era and the connection to issues of equity: 5 minutes
- Review on research related to vulnerable populations and how online gambling may amplify existing risk factors: 10 minutes
- Highlighting changes from more traditional forms of gambling into the digital era: 10 minutes
- Comparison of the digital era of gambling and gambling-like products to the Wild West in US history, and what we might learn from that history to mitigate the harmful impact: 15 mins
- Ways to promote informed-decision making around online gambling and gambling-adjacent products: 10 minutes
- Leveraging what makes online gambling products successful in engaging and retaining attention of customers, paired with known prevention strategies, to empower informed decision-making among vulnerable populations: 10 minutes