Online casino gambling and live sports betting are associated with problem gambling and being over-indebted

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Author(s): Håkansson, Anders ; Widinghoff, Carolina

Journal: Frontiers in Psychology

Year Published: 2020

Date Added: May 31, 2020

This study found high rates of problem gambling and moderate-risk of problem gambling in Swedish online casino gamblers, and even higher rates among those who gambled on both online casino and live sports betting. People who participated in these two gambling activities were most likely to have been over-indebted (e.g., not able to pay bills). Those who participated in online casino gambling also expected themselves to be over-indebted in the near future. Having problem gambling was associated with greater mental health distress and alcohol use problems. In contrast to previous research, problem gambling was more common in women than men.

Citation: Håkansson, A., & Widinghoff, C. (2020). Over-indebtedness and problem gambling in a general population sample of online gamblers. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, article 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00007

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00007

Keywords: addiction ; debt ; gambling disorder ; online gambling ; problem gambling

Topics: Online Gambling

Conceptual Framework Factors: Exposure - Gambling Setting ; Environment - Social and Economic Impacts ; Types - Structural Characteristics ; Psychological - Comorbid Disorders ; Exposure - Accessibility ; Gambling Environment

Study Design: Observational: Cross-sectional

Geographic Coverage: Sweden

Study Population: Adult online gamblers, who had gambled for money on either an online casino or betting site, on at least 10 occasions during the past 12 months (N = 1004).

Sampling Procedure: Convenience sampling was used by recruiting participants from the web panel of the market survey company Ipsos.

Study Funding:

This study was funded by the research council of the Swedish Enforcement Authority.