Changes in Self-Reported Web-Based Gambling Activity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background The COVID‑19 pandemic has affected not only somatic health with over 3.7 million deaths worldwide, but also has 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 concerning, and the same has been seen for gambling. Objective This study explores self-reported web-based gambling behavior during the COVID‑19 pandemic in Sweden. We investigated overall changes, but also changes in specific web-based gambling types, and whether they are associated with certain risk factors or lifestyle changes. Methods Our study is based on an anonymous web-based survey of web panel participants in Sweden (N=1501) designed to study a range of behavioral changes during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Increases in gambling were analyzed using logistic regression models against sociodemographic data and psychological distress. Results The majority of the respondents who gambled reported no changes in their gambling habits during 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 that 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 web-based gambling (horses, sports, poker, and casino) whereas the Kessler score only had a 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 activity during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The group that reported an increase in overall gambling activity during the COVID-19 pandemic represent a group with gambling problems and psychological distress. The group that reported increased sports and casino gambling were often male, and this group seemed to experience more psychological distress.

Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

“…It is important to identify how these individuals differ from the majority who reduce their gambling, to facilitate early identification and intervention for those whose mental health has been negatively affected during the pandemic. As noted by Claesdotter-Knutsson and Håkkanson ( 61 ), baseline problem gambling severity and psychological distress scores may be associated with an increase in gambling during the pandemic. However, a study by Gainsbury et al ( 62 ) found only moderate risk gamblers increased their gambling during the pandemic and these authors reported no association between psychological distress and increased gambling, highlighting the need for additional research on this topic.…”

“…One area for future research is the identification of factors that moderate the relationship between gambling availability and gambling behaviors. Though existing research indicates most people gambled less in response to the pandemic, a subset of individuals responded by increasing their gambling, and these individuals may experience more psychological distress and engage in more risky behaviors ( 34 , 59 – 61 ). It is important to identify how these individuals differ from the majority who reduce their gambling, to facilitate early identification and intervention for those whose mental health has been negatively affected during the pandemic.…”

Self-exclusion and breaching of self-exclusion from gambling – a repeated survey study on the development of a nationwide self-exclusion service

“…In the study carried out in March2021, primarily addressing potential COVID-19-related changes in the gambling market, ve percent of gamblers had ever self-excluded through the Swedish self-exclusion service [10]. In the study from 2020, seven percent of participants with 10 occasions or more of past-year online gambling had ever self-excluded [7].…”

“…The subjective, self-report-based information about self-exclusion may also be limited by recall bias. Nonetheless, the items addressing self-exclusion have been worded in the same way as in previous studies [7,8,10], making comparisons possible.…”

“…Given the similarity in design and topic with previous papers in the present setting, with items about selfexclusion worded in similar ways, the paper also presents below a comparison with three previous papers [7,8,10], regarding the rates of self-exclusion reported, the characteristics of the populations studied, factors associated with the reporting of self-exclusion, the rates of breaching (where applicable) and the types of gambling reported during self-exclusion (where applicable).…”