Australia's gambling epidemic: The role of Covid‐19 support payment

Abstract

Covid‐19 exposed the whole world to numerous challenges ranging from health to economic recession. Nevertheless, it also impeded gambling activities. Here, we consider the relationship between Covid‐19 support payment and gambling. Gambling is considered leisure for many game players but leads to multiple social and economic harms. This has led to a growing body of literature examining the factors that influence gambling. This paper contributes to this strand of the literature by utilizing the ordinary least square and instrumental variable approach to investigate if Covid‐19 support payment is a driver of gambling. We utilize a wide range of gambling measures and different forms of Covid‐19 support payment. Our findings show that Covid‐19 support payment is positively associated with gambling. Our results also suggest a stronger effect for male gamblers and online gamblers compared to female gamblers and gamblers who gambled at the venue.

Effects of winning and losing streaks on within-session chasing in online gambling: A replication and extension study

“…Gambling is a popular recreational activity, with about 1.6 billion of the world's adult population (26%) engaging in various forms of gambling worldwide (Calado & Griffiths, 2016;Adabor, 2024). However, gambling can become addictive and therefore, problematic if one gambles excessively.…”

“…Problematic gambling imposes significant negative impacts on both the individual and societal level. At the individual level, it can severely disrupt one's familial and social relations, financial status, psychological well-being and overall health (Paterson et al, 2020;Adabor, 2024). Moreover, gambling-related harms can extend to individuals beyond gamblers, such as their family members, associated others and the society at large (Goodwin et al, 2017).…”

Introduction to special issue: The economics of catastrophes

“…‘Australia's gambling epidemic: The role of Covid‐19 support payment’ by Opoku Adabor (2024) analyses the influence of Covid‐19 support funds on the severity of gambling in Australia. Data from 4622 gamblers in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey were used.…”