Relieving the Gambling Itch Through Alcohol Consumption: The Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on Australian Casino Patrons

A Cross-Sectional Survey to Measure Attitude, Self-Reported Practice, Levels, Typology, and Determinants of Lifetime Gambling Behaviors Among Undergraduate Students in Higher Training Institutions, Tanzania

Lifetime gambling activities and behaviors are considered as potentially addictive behaviors that may impact a student's performance. According to a survey conducted in Tanzanian's higher training institutions, for example, 37.2% of sports gamblers were students. This study employed an institutional-based cross-sectional survey in a quantitative research approach to study 374 randomly sampled undergraduate students in higher training institutions in Dodoma region, Tanzania from June to July 2023. Students reported their attitudes, practices, and drivers of gambling activities through interviewer-administered structured questionnaires adopted from previous studies. Results indicate that 374 of 583 potential participants were eligible and surveyed for the study with 100% response rate. Participants' mean age was 24 years ± 2.79 of which, few of them (34%) had age ranging between 25 and 42 years. Male participants accounted for 69.8% (n = 261). 59.1% of the study participants believed that gambling activities were okay to them of which 47.3% of them were lifetime gamblers; 19.2% moderate-risk lifetime gamblers and 2.5% low-risk lifetime gamblers respectively. Online sports betting (44.5%), coin pusher (29.4%), poll tables (8.0%), and slot machines (6.9%) were the most preferred types of gambling games among students. Age between 17 and 24 years; levels three and four classes, being male; living off-campus; drug abuse; mobile smartphone ownership; exposure to social media platforms and high attitude towards gambling activities were associated significantly with undergraduate students' gambling practices (p < 0.05). Large-scale institutional-based educational programs about the financial and academic ramifications of gambling among students during their studies may be able to moderate their gambling behaviors.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on gambling: A systematic review

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, people's habits changed radically. In fact, to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, governments implemented restrictive measures that influenced the lives of individuals. The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on gambling by examining three different outcomes: frequency, expenditure, and transition among possible types of gambling.

METHODS

All studies assessing the impact of restrictive measures implemented to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 on gambling were included. For the search, two different databases were used: Pubmed and CINAHL. Moreover, two different populations were analyzed: the general population, and subjects who used to gamble before SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. All qualitative studies, reports not based on peer-review, and papers in which the statistical unit was not the subject but the gambling or wagering operators were excluded.

RESULTS

From the search, 408 reports were identified. Of these, 28 were included in the systematic review. From the studies, a strong reduction in the frequency and expenditure of land-based gambling emerged, while the results about online gambling were different among the studies. However, a reduction was observed assessing sports betting, and an increase emerged considering online casino and skill games. Finally, a significant migration from land-based gambling to online platforms was identified. The main reasons for these findings were the physical closures of land-based gambling venues and the more time spent at home, the suspension or cancelation of sporting events on which subjects used to bet, and more mental health issues during this challenging period.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected subjects' habits, including gambling, by reducing land-based gambling and sports betting, and increasing gambling on online platforms. This shift poses significant challenges, requiring a comprehensive approach to monitor and mitigate the negative consequences of this increase in online gambling caused by the pandemic.