Regulatory Resistance? Narratives and Uses of Evidence around "Black Market" Provision of Gambling during the British Gambling Act Review

Changes and continuities in gambling careers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal qualitative study of regular sports bettors in Britain

BACKGROUND

To explore continuities and changes in gambling behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that influenced these among a sample of regular sports bettors.

METHODS

A longitudinal qualitative study using in-depth interviews. Sixteen sports bettors living in Britain took part in the first interviews in July-November 2020, and 13 in the follow-up interviews in March-September 2021.

RESULTS

Individual patterns of gambling were episodic: it was common for gambling to increase during some periods of the pandemic and to decrease during others, reflecting the dynamic and (often) challenging circumstances which people were living through at the time. Changes and continuities in gambling during the pandemic were influenced by a range of factors which we have grouped into two main themes relating to 'gambling and the sports landscape' and 'disruption to day-to-day life'. It was common for a constellation of factors to influence gambling behaviour rather than a single factor. These constellations of factors varied from person to person and at different times during the pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings of the present study are consistent with earlier literature examining gambling careers before the advent of COVID-19 showing that gambling trajectories are non-linear. Our research suggests that 'typical' patterns of gambling behaviour (e.g. being episodic), and the broader known risk and protective factors within individuals, families, communities and societies have been amplified during the pandemic. Findings highlight the adaptability of the gambling industry to continue to reach consumers through product offerings and marketing even in a period of unprecedented restrictions on supply, and show the potential resulting harms of these actions among gamblers at risk of experiencing gambling problems. Taken together, findings from this study provide important new insights relevant to discussions about gambling regulation, and support calls for multifaceted and comprehensive policy, regulatory, and treatment approaches, to minimise gambling-related harms.

Channelling and taxation in European online gambling markets: evolution and policy implications

BACKGROUND

Taxation can be used to direct consumption and provision of harmful commodities. Prior research on gambling taxation has nevertheless been inconclusive on whether this can also apply to gambling. In gambling policy, optimal taxation rates have particularly been debated from the perspective of channelling consumption from offshore markets to regulated markets. Prior industry-sponsored reports have suggested that lower tax rates may be correlated with higher channelling rates.

METHODS

We analyse data on two cross-sections (2018; 2021) derived from 29 European countries. The data consist of estimated channelling rates, information on taxation levels, and controls including blocking policies. We produce a descriptive overview of the recent evolution of market channelling and taxation for online gambling products across Europe. We also produce a multivariate regression analysis on the extent that market channelling is correlated with taxation of online gambling.

RESULTS

Our results show important divergence in taxation of online gambling markets in Europe. We also found that over time, the market share of offshore markets has declined in relative terms. However, this decline is explained by a more rapid growth in the regulated market in absolute terms. The regression analysis found no evidence of a negative correlation between that taxation rates and channelling rates within Europe.

CONCLUSIONS

Gambling policy needs to be based on empirical, impartial evidence. Misleading estimates may result in increased harms to societies. Channelling objectives are important for better regulation and harm reduction, but taxation levels do not appear to be correlated to the success of channelling policies.

No evidence that Chinese playtime mandates reduced heavy gaming in one segment of the video games industry

Governments around the world are considering regulatory measures to reduce young people's time spent on digital devices, particularly video games. This raises the question of whether proposed regulatory measures would be effective. Since the early 2000s, the Chinese government has been enacting regulations to directly restrict young people's playtime. In November 2019, it limited players aged under 18 to 1.5 hours of daily playtime and 3 hours on public holidays. Using telemetry data on over seven billion hours of playtime provided by a stakeholder from the video games industry, we found no credible evidence for overall reduction in the prevalence of heavy playtime following the implementation of regulations: individual accounts became 1.14 times more likely to play heavily in any given week (95% confidence interval 1.139-1.141). This falls below our preregistered smallest effect size of interest (2.0) and thus is not interpreted as a practically meaningful increase. Results remain robust across a variety of sensitivity analyses, including an analysis of more recent (2021) adjustments to playtime regulation. This casts doubt on the effectiveness of such state-controlled playtime mandates.