Nexus reports 2,830 people treated for gambling disorder in Lombardy in 2025

Nexus reported that 2,830 people were receiving treatment for gambling disorder (Disturbo da Gioco d'Azzardo, DGA) in Lombardy in 2025, equal to 7% of all users treated for substance, alcohol and gambling addictions. The figure comes from the new regional bulletin of the "L'Italia delle Dipendenze 2025" project, run by the Nexus addiction observatory, which collects information from Italian health agencies.

The seven Lombardy health protection agencies (ATS) covered by the survey recorded 42,120 treatment cases in total. Substance addictions accounted for 28,821 users, or 68% of the total; alcohol addictions for 10,469 people (25%); and gambling disorder for 2,830 users (7%). The survey did not include ATS Brescia because the data it submitted were insufficient and not comparable with those of the other agencies, so the totals cover seven of the region's eight ATS and do not represent all regional treatment cases.

ATS Milano, which covers the provinces of Milan and Lodi, had the highest concentration of gambling disorder users, with 1,041 people in treatment, or 36.8% of the total recorded across the seven ATS. Of those 1,041 users, 929 were men and 706 were older than 35. Among the 954 ATS Milano users for whom employment information was available, 669 were employed, a share of about 70%.

Employment among gambling disorder users also appeared in other areas. ATS Bergamo recorded 561 users in treatment for DGA, of whom 492 were men and 294 were employed. In ATS Pavia, 102 of the 144 users treated for the disorder were employed. The bulletin also reported minors in gambling disorder treatment: two in ATS Milano and one in ATS Bergamo.

Across all forms of addiction, ATS Milano had the most treatment cases, with 16,295 users in total: 12,105 for substances, 3,149 for alcohol and 1,041 for DGA. The agency accounted for 42% of substance treatment cases, 30.1% of alcohol cases and 36.8% of gambling cases recorded across the seven ATS. By total users, it was followed by ATS Insubria with 6,156 treatment cases, ATS Bergamo with 5,973, ATS Brianza with 5,686, ATS Val Padana with 4,334, ATS Pavia with 2,291 and ATS Montagna with 1,385.

According to Nexus, reading the data by territory allows specific differences and needs to be identified, providing information useful for health planning, prevention policies and measures against addictions. The "L'Italia delle Dipendenze 2025" project will continue with a bulletin on Piedmont, the third regional publication in the programme, with the aim of gradually building a national picture of people taken into treatment by the services.