Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Jul 14, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 14, 2021 - Jul 26, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 26, 2021
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
A cross-sectional study of changes in gambling activity in the Covid-19 pandemic
ABSTRACT
Background:
Covid 19 pandemic has affected not only somatic health with over 3.7 million deaths worldwide, but has also had a huge impact on psychological health, creating what amounts to a mental health crisis. The negative effect of the pandemic on traditional addictions is well described and worrying, and the same has been seen for gambling.
Objective:
This study explores self-reported online gambling behaviour in the Covid 19 pandemic in Sweden. We investigate overall changes, but also changes in specific online gambling types, and whether they are associated with certain risk factors or lifestyle changes.
Methods:
Our study is based on an anonymous online survey of web panel participants in Sweden (N=1,501) designed to study a range of behavioural changes in the Covid 19 pandemic. Increases in gambling were analysed in logistic regressions against sociodemographic data and psychological distress.
Results:
The majority of the respondents who gambled reported no changes in their gambling habits in the Covid 19 pandemic. We found significant associations with the problem gambling severity index (PGSI), the Kessler score (indicating psychological distress), employment status, changes in alcohol habits, and self-exclusion when looking at overall changes in gambling activity in the pandemic. In the subgroup who reported an increase in gambling activity we found an association with both the PGSI and Kessler scores. The PGSI score was also an independent predictor for all specific online gambling (horses, sports, poker, and casino) whereas the Kessler score only had a statistically significant impact on changes in casino gambling. In addition, male gender was an independent predictor for gambling on sports and casino gambling.
Conclusions:
The majority of respondents who gambled reported no changes in their gambling in the Covid 19 pandemic. The group who reported an increase in overall gambling activity in the Covid-19 pandemic represent a group with gambling problems and psychological distress. The group who reported increased sports and casino gambling were often male, and this group seem to experience more psychological distress.
Citation
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Copyright
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