Prevention can play a critical role in reducing the harms associated with gambling.

Effective prevention initiatives build on a strong foundation of research-based practices, expanding its focus from individual-level interventions to community-level interventions and outcomes.

Effective prevention efforts are multi-pronged and must do the following:

1. Change conditions in the environment that support and enable the development of problem gambling.
2. Support populations in acquiring the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy behaviors.
3. Ensure prevention efforts are tailored to a population’s level of risk:
   • Primary prevention efforts – Focus on populations at low risk, that is, those who do not gamble or who gamble infrequently
   • Secondary prevention efforts – Focus on populations who are at risk for developing problem gambling
   • Tertiary prevention efforts – Focus on populations who are at high risk and are already engaged in problem gambling
4. Be part of a comprehensive approach to ensure preventing problem gambling is integrated into existing public health prevention efforts. This integration can occur by focusing on the shared risk and protective factors of public health problems such as substance misuse across individual, school, family, and community domains.