Edited by: Darren C. Treadway, Daemen College, United States
Reviewed by: Sally Gainsbury, The University of Sydney, Australia; Jeffrey L. Derevensky, McGill University, Canada
This article was submitted to Psychopathology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
The COVID-19 pandemic may have severe impact on mental health, and concerns have been raised about potentially increased online behavior and possibly increased gambling problems, such as in sports bettors at risk of transfer to even riskier forms of gambling during sports lock-down. Given the need for objective data about gambling behavior during the pandemic, the present analysis, from a project assessing online gambling in Sweden, aimed to study past-30-day gambling patterns in online gamblers in Sweden. The study, carried out in May, 2020, during the pandemic and its restrictions on society, included past-year online gamblers (
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a number of issues related to health, beyond the most urgent and life-threatening consequences. The risk of mental health consequences has been highlighted (
Likewise, concerns have been raised about COVID-19-related consequences on gambling behavior. Problem gambling and the gambling disorder represent conditions which are globally widespread; past-year problem gambling has been reported to occur in between 0.1 and 5.8% of the general population across different countries and continents (
It has been documented in previous national financial crises that these may affect gambling behavior (
One specific circumstance is the substantial change in the gambling market itself, as virtually all sports typically subject to sports betting disappeared during a significant period of time (
However, so far, population data are very limited with respect to actual gambling habits during the COVID-19 crisis. A previous general population study (including both gamblers and non-gamblers) in Sweden found a modest percentage reporting an increased gambling behavior during the crisis. As a response to decreased sports events, a minority reported either turning to other remaining sports events, online casino, or horse betting. In total, those reporting an increase in their gambling behavior were more likely to be problem gamblers (
Given the theoretically increased role of online behaviors (
The aim of the present study was to describe past-30-day use of different gambling types during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals defined as online gamblers, in order to enable a comparison with past-30-day data reported from a previous survey in online gamblers carried out in 2018. In particular, given the considerable changes in sports world-wide, the study also aimed to assess whether online sports bettors still reporting past-30-day sports betting differed from those who did not. Here, it was hypothesized that past-30-day gambling in Swedish online gamblers would be more common (in relation to a measure of past-year gambling behavior) for some gambling types, such as online casino or other online-based gambling types likely to be unaffected by the COVID-19 constraints, compared to gambling types more clearly affected by the pandemic. Also, it was hypothesized that people who maintained gambling during the crisis, particularly for gambling types such as sports betting believed to be reduced during COVID-19-related restrictions, would present other characteristics than other online gamblers.
The present analysis is a partial analysis from a larger study on online gambling in Sweden. This sub-analysis focuses on past-30-day and past-year gambling patterns in Swedish online gamblers, in order to highlight the online gambling situation during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The overall study was designed prior to the COVID-19 crisis, and aimed for a larger number of analyses of the online gambling behavior in the setting. As a past-30-day measure for different gambling types is available, this subset of data was used for the present analysis. The survey was carried out from May 5 to 12, such that the 30-day period for each participant refers to a period well within the period of time when constraints due to COVID-19 were actively ongoing, and during that whole 30-day period, sports betting related to major sports events, such as major soccer leagues, were completely canceled. The study data was collected using the same inclusion criteria and the same methodology as in a previous study carried out in 2018, and which previously has reported associations between specific types of online gambling patterns and problem gambling and indebtedness (
The study was reviewed by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (file number 2020-00364), which expressed that the study did not formally require ethical permission according to Swedish law, as it does not deal with data that can be directly or indirectly linked to a specific individual, and also expressed no ethical concerns with respect to the study. The study was opened only after a participant provided informed consent. Participation in the study was paid following the credit system used by Ipsos for other studies, and where a survey of the present extent and duration is rewarded with credit points corresponding to a value of around 1.50 Euros within the credit system of the company.
The present study took place in Sweden, where gambling, since January 1st, 2019, is regulated in a license-based system, with a large number of licensed operators. Land-based casinos and land-based electronic gambling machines are run by a state-based monopoly, whereas betting on sports and horse racing, online casino and bingo games, as well as land-based and online lotteries, are subject to competition between a number of operators. A large percentage of the gambling advertisements seen in television promote online gambling, with online casino representing the largest share of these commercial messages (
The present study aimed to include past-year online gamblers. The sample addressed were web panel members of a Swedish market survey company, Ipsos, i.e., individuals already enrolled with that company’s web panel, and typically receiving market surveys and political opinion polls. The same methods and the same recruitment strategy were used in a previous study assessing online gamblers in Sweden, recruited through the same web survey company and with the same screen-out question (
Patterns of recent gambling was measured for each of the gambling types included, asking for whether that gambling types had been used (1) during the past 30 days, and if not (2) at any time during the past-year (gambling types assessed were online casino, land-based casino, online horse betting, land-based horse betting, sports live betting, sports non-live betting, online poker, land-based poker, land-based electronic gambling machines, online bingo, and gambling within video games). Thus, respondents endorsing the past-30-day item were not asked about the period of time prior to the past 30 days. Individuals reporting any past-year gambling for a gambling type, but not past-30-day gambling for that type, were compared to those reporting past-30-day gambling (non-recent vs. recent gamblers). As no comparable 30-day period was available for comparison, the proportions of past-year gamblers who reported past-30-day gambling, for each gambling type, were used as a measure of the extent to which different gambling types were affected by the COVID-19 period. Problem gambling severity was measured using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a nine-item scale (
Sample characteristics and gambling patterns were reported as descriptive data. Also, for each gambling type, descriptive data report the percentage of past-year gamblers for that gambling type who report having used it during the past 30 days. Past-30-day gamblers—for each gambling type—were compared to non-30-day past-year-gamblers for that gambling type, using chi-square analyses.
Seventy-five percent of respondents were men, and a majority were either working or retired. In total, 7% had a history of self-exclusion from the
Characteristics of included individuals (
n (%) | |
Male gender | 744 (75) |
Age groups (years) | |
18–24 | 11 (1) |
25–29 | 45 (5) |
30–39 | 134 (13) |
40–49 | 162 (16) |
50–59 | 265 (27) |
60–69 | 217 (22) |
70 and above | 163 (16) |
Living conditions | |
Alone with children | 70 (7) |
Alone without children | 246 (25) |
With partner and children | 304 (30) |
With partner without children | 363 (36) |
With my parents | 14 (1) |
Occupation | |
Working | 600 (60) |
Studying | 18 (2) |
Unemployed | 38 (4) |
Retired | 309 (31) |
Other | 32 (3) |
History of national self-exclusion | |
Yes | 66 (7) |
No | 925 (93) |
Wish not to answer | 6 (1) |
Gambling severity | |
No risk | 514 (52) |
Low risk | 230 (23) |
Moderate risk | 154 (15) |
Problem gambling | 99 (10) |
In women (
Expressed as the percentage of past-year gamblers who gambled during the past 30 days, for each gambling type, this ratio of past-30-day gambling was the highest for online horse betting (90%), online casino (81%), online poker (74%) and online bingo (72%), as well as for the less frequent gambling within video games (86%), but lower for sports live betting (58%), non-live sports betting (56%), electronic gambling machines (46%), land-based horse gambling (42%), and land-based casino games (26%,
Reporting of any past-year gambling (past 30 days or past-year prior to past 30 days), and past-30-day gambling, for all gambling types (
Total, any past-year gambling (past-year or past 30 days), percent of all study participants, n (%) | Past-30-day gambling, n | Past-30-day gambling, proportion of all past-year gamblers (past-30-day gambling + other past-year gambling), % | |
Sports live betting | 474 (48) | 277 | 58 |
Sports non-live betting | 495 (50) | 279 | 56 |
Online casino | 381 (38) | 310 | 81 |
Land-based casino | 81 (8) | 21 | 26 |
Online horse betting | 646 (65) | 584 | 90 |
Land-based horse betting | 291 (29) | 123 | 42 |
Online poker | 178 (18) | 131 | 74 |
Land-based poker | 87 (9) | 45 | 52 |
Land-based electronic gambling machines | 113 (11) | 52 | 46 |
Online bingo | 220 (22) | 159 | 72 |
Gambling within video games | 78 (8) | 67 | 86 |
For those reporting past-30-day gambling, compared to those denying that but reporting past-year gambling for the same gambling type, being a moderate-risk or problem gamblers was significantly more likely among the recent gamblers for land-based casino gambling, land-based electronic machine gambling, and for any sports betting, but less likely for online horse betting. The past-30-day gamblers for online casino and land-based poker were significantly more likely to be female, whereas the recent online horse bettors were significantly more likely to be men (
Comparison of recent (past-30-month) gamblers and past-year (non-recent) gamblers for each gambling type (
Moderate-risk or problem gambling |
Male gender |
|||||
Past-30-day gamblers (%) | Non-30-day (but past-year) gamblers (%) | Past-30-day gamblers (%) | Non-30-day (but past-year) gamblers (%) | |||
Sports live betting | 36 | 22 | 0.001 | 83 | 84 | 0.76 |
Sports non-live betting | 28 | 22 | 0.12 | 87 | 83 | 0.19 |
< |
||||||
Online casino | 49 | 41 | 0.21 | 55 | 76 | 0.001 |
Land-based casino | 81 | 47 | <0.01 | 57 | 67 | 0.43 |
Online horse betting | 23 | 35 | 0.03 | 80 | 68 | 0.03 |
Land-based horse betting | 28 | 24 | 0.53 | 78 | 82 | 0.46 |
Online poker | 50 | 38 | 0.18 | 73 | 81 | 0.26 |
Land-based poker | 58 | 43 | 0.16 | 64 | 83 | <0.05 |
Land-based electronic gambling machines | 69 | 41 | 0.003 | 62 | 69 | 0.42 |
Online bingo | 51 | 46 | 0.50 | 53 | 51 | 0.73 |
Gambling within video games | 58 | 73 | 0.36 | 63 | 55 | 0.61 |
Among respondents reporting any sports betting during the past-year (
The present study is among the first studies reporting recent online gambling data from the COVID-19 crisis. The present study included online gamblers, and focused on the characteristics of those reporting or not reporting recent gambling, in a situation with a changing gambling market where all major sports events had been canceled world-wide. Thereby, the study attempts to shed light onto the discussion about whether the dramatic changes in the society during COVID-19 could affect gambling among online gamblers. In summary, it can be concluded that online gambling types were more common compared to their past-year rates than were the land-based gambling types. Importantly, sports bettors who did report sports betting even during this period, where such betting in the society was assumingly rare, had a very high degree of gambling problems and indebtedness, and gambled more. There was no indication that past-year sports bettors who denied betting in the recent COVID-19-affected period would have an increased gambling on other types of gambling. However, online horse bettors appeared to have a lower degree of gambling problems if they were recent gamblers, such that the characteristics of this group of gamblers may have been different during the pandemic than in the months prior to that.
In the current study carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rates of 30-day gambling in the present study can be compared to the findings of a previous study with the same methods for recruitment, carried out in 2018 (
The higher degree of gambling problems and indebtedness in past-month gamblers were consistent with the hypothesis that in times where gambling of some types is scarce, those who still engage in that gambling type differ from those who do not. In this context; in times when sports betting is scarce, those who still bet on the reduced amount of sports are likely to have more severe gambling problems. In a recent general population study, a minority of respondents reported that the reduced sports betting opportunities made them gamble on other sports events than they usually do (
Sports betting was far from inexistent even during the weeks when the global restrictions from COVID-19 were the largest, such as during confinement in many countries. Here, it should be borne in mind that individuals were recruited based on their past-year gambling online on 10 occasions or more, i.e., they are likely to be a high-risk sample with respect to online involvement and intense gambling patterns, as supported by a previous study using the same recruitment strategy (
It has been discussed whether specific other gambling types would attract new users because of the COVID-19, with the fear that some gambling types would put ex-bettors into more addictive gambling because of turning to other than the preferred gambling type. In the present study, for most gambling types, the past-30-day gamblers either did not differ from past-year gamblers, or had a higher degree of gambling problems, such as for sports betting (as discussed above), land-based electronic gambling machines, or land-based casino. It is difficult to know whether the enhanced gambling problems in these recent gamblers are due to a recent increase because of the pandemic, or simply because frequent gamblers are more likely to report recent gambling compared to a person who gambles only occasionally, and therefore likely with a lower degree of problems.
Interestingly, however, one specific gambling type demonstrates the opposite trend; online horse bettors had significantly less gambling problems if they reported past-30-day use, compared to past-year users with no recent use of that type. Although this was measured in a limited sample and can be subject to confounding factors unknown here, it can be hypothesized that this specific gambling type has attracted individuals during the pandemic who have less gambling problems and who typically do not engage in horse race betting, such as if a move had happened from other more pandemic-influenced gambling types to this one. The relatively high reporting of online horse betting (and higher than in our previous study from the same setting) is in line with media reports of a sharp increase in horse wagering during the crisis (
In contrast to the association with gambling problems (and indebtedness), it is interesting to note that employment status, or living alone, were factors unrelated to the reporting of recent sports betting; thus, this study gives no support to the idea that living conditions or a labor situation affected by the crisis may change gambling patterns. However, this issue would require more research, including more detailed and in-depth analyses including longitudinal study designs, and likely would merit from a longer time frame to study than only the weeks of crisis preceding this study.
The present sub-analysis, describing sports betting and other gambling behaviors in online gamblers during a unique change to the society and to the gambling market, may have implications in immediate association with the COVID-19 crisis. For the remainder of the acute and sub-acute phases of the pandemic, those who bet even on a scarce betting market may be more likely to have gambling problems and should be particularly approached by responsible gambling strategies. Likewise, both in the short and long run, the present findings call for more research following gamblers over time during and after the pandemic, and particularly interventions research testing methods to prevent excessive gambling in the context of this crisis. Such interventions may involve legal constraints on gambling types perceived to be particularly hazardous, in particular rapid online games, such as the limitation of advertisements or deposit limits suggested by policy makers in some settings (
In the present study, problem gambling was more common in women. While this may be a surprising finding in relation to most previous research, where a majority of problem gamblers are male (
The present study has limitations; it relies on self-report data collected through a market survey company, which may limit the preciseness of reported data. The present study had the intention to include online gamblers, i.e., individuals with a certain degree of online gambling behavior (ten or more occasions during the past-year), given the high prevalence of online gambling and in order to provide a new measure to compare to a previous online gambling study carried out in the present setting (
Likewise, data rely on self-report rather than on objective measures of actual gambling, which, however, would have been difficult given the large number of gambling operators available in the area. It is also not possible to establish, from the present data, whether an individual’s recent gambling represents an initiation or an increase in gambling, or even an individual’s typical pattern of irregular or rare gambling which happened to occur during the past 30 days prior to taking the survey. Related to this, another limitation is the cross-sectional study design, i.e., the lack of a possibility to follow each individual’s changing gambling pattern over time. However, the present analyses aimed to assess the gambling patterns in online gambling during the most acute phases of the pandemic in the present setting, but future follow-up studies are planned using the same type of recruitment, and can provide new measures of how gambling behaviors may alter in post-acute phases of the pandemic. Overall, the results of the present study call for new data collections in this and other geographical settings, and in different pandemic phases. Despite these limitations, the present sub-study from a structured web survey dataset of online gamblers, is one of the first and one of the few studies reporting gambling involvement actually happening during the COVID-19 crisis.
In conclusion, the present study has implications of relevance to stakeholders in the gambling policy area and in preventive and treatment work in problem gambling. People reporting sports betting in times when the world of sports is dramatically altered due to the pandemic may be at higher risk of problem gambling than other sports bettors, and should be a group to address for prevention and intervention. Online casino and bingo gambling appear to less affected by the COVID-19 crisis, while land-based gambling in these online gamblers appeared to be more scarce, and online horse betting was the only gambling type more commonly reported than in a corresponding previous dataset. The present findings add to the knowledge about online gambling, and to the need to address online gambling as one of the potential health hazards in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation, to any qualified researcher.
The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
AH was the sole author of the present manuscript, and the responsible of the research idea, the planning and ethics application of the study, as well as statistical analyses and writing of the manuscript.
AH holds a position as researcher at Lund University which was sponsored by the Swedish state-owned gambling operator Svenska Spel as part of that body’s responsible gambling policies, and also had funding from the research council of Svenska Spel as well as the research council of the Swedish alcohol monopoly and from the Swedish Sports Federation. None of these organization have been involved in or had any influence on any part of the present work.
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