The Conceptualization of Problem Gambling in Social Services: Email Interviews with Finnish Social Services Directors

Research on handling problem gambling has mostly been concentrated on therapeutic treatment and individual psychotherapy. The treatment focus, however, underscores the financial troubles of problem gamblers. In the Nordic welfare state, citizens’ financial problems fall under the umbrella of social services. Eleven Finnish social services directors were interviewed via email or telephone on their professional experiences with problem gambling and about the support methods available in their institutions. The social services directors believed that gambling problems are rooted in the contemporary consumer society with its financial inequality and pressures of belonging. They had no shared definition or method of recognising problem gambling. Despite being in a supervisory position, the social services directors were unable to give an estimate of the degree of problem gambling among their institution’s clients. A register of cases related to problem gambling in Finnish social services seems necessary. The results indicate, furthermore, that tools should be developed for the early identification of problem gambling in social services as well as for improvement of the linkage between the financial support of social services and therapeutic treatment in specialised centres.