Nightmare neighbours: Proximity to gambling shops and gambling harms

We focus on the relationship between exposure to gambling shops and gambling-related harms. Gambling is now a public health concern, but its economic geography and associated harms are underexplored. We propose a framework that combines proximity and density, use data on gambling shops matched with surveys and measure the impact of gamblogenic environments on problem gambling using probit models and coarsened exact matching. Living closer to and in high densities of gambling shops, increases the likelihood of gambling and being a problematic gambler. The spatial distribution of gambling venues matters and calls for targeted interventions to mitigate harms.