Changes in offline gambling behaviour after the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany

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Author(s): Kalke, Jens ; Schütze, Christian ; Lahusen, Harald ; Buth, Sven

Journal: Frontiers in Psychology

Year Published: 2022

Date Added: September 27, 2022

In Germany, the first national lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was from March to May 2020. This study explored changes in gambling behaviour after the lockdown among people who gambled offline on higher-risk forms of gambling. Survey participants were 612 adults who gambled offline on casino games, sports betting, and slot machines prior to the lockdown. Few people switched to online gambling after the lockdown. Most participants either continued to gamble offline or stopped gambling. About 37.1% of participants who bet on sports and 64.1% of participants who gambled on casino games stopped offline gambling. Female gender, younger age, and less frequent gambling were predictors of stopping offline gambling instead of continuing gambling after the lockdown. However, younger age and having more erroneous gambling beliefs were predictors of switching to online gambling.

Citation: Kalke, J., Schütze, C., Lahusen, H., & Buth, S. (2022). Parameters for change in ofﬂine gambling behavior after the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 857234. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.857234

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.857234

Keywords: casinos ; COVID-19 ; gambling ; gambling behaviours ; gambling venues ; motivational factors ; venue

Topics: Information for Operators ; Venue/Casino

Conceptual Framework Factors: Exposure - Gambling Setting ; Gambling Environment ; Environment - Public Policy ; Gambling Exposure

Study Design: Observational: Cross-sectional

Geographic Coverage: Germany

Study Population: People who had gambled on at least one of the higher risk forms of gambling (i.e., sports betting, casino games, slot machines) and had done so exclusively offline before the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany (n = 612)

Sampling Procedure: Convenient sampling through a comparatively large German online access panel (“PAYBACK online panel”). The panel includes people who are generally willing to participate in online surveys on a wide range of topics.

Study Funding:

This research was supported by a grant of the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA, Germany).