Nevertheless, the deleterious effect of gambling problems on wellbeing was larger than the effect of consumption. Study 2 showed consistent results revealing that both high and low consumption non-problem gamblers (NPGs) had higher personal wellbeing than non-gamblers. After accounting for gambling problems, higher consumption was associated with higher wellbeing. Participants provided demographic information, and answered questions allowing them to be grouped into high/low levels of consumption, and problem gambling risk categories. Study 1 (N = 1524, 50.6% female) was designed to compare differences in personal wellbeing among gamblers, and Study 2 (N = 1586, 70.2% female) compared wellbeing between gamblers and non-gamblers. We used the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) in two surveys with different recruitment criteria. However, few studies have measured subjective wellbeing with respect to gambling involvement, and almost none has attempted to distinguish the separate effects of consumption and problems. Most research on gambling focuses on the negative consequences associated with excessive consumption, which implicitly leads to a reduction in health and wellbeing.
