School of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 6002 Lucerne, Switzerland.
School of Business, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, 6002 Lucerne, Switzerland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 18;18(4):1973. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041973.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has had a major impact on most societies worldwide, including the closure of non-essential businesses in spring 2020. The present study considers its impact upon gambling behavior. Particularly, changes in self-reported gambling by Swiss, land-based casino players are examined. The main characteristics of respondents who played or did not play during lockdown are also investigated. This study is embedded in an ongoing longitudinal study that examines the gambling behavior of casino players at three points in time. All respondents who had participated in the first wave of the longitudinal study by the cut-off date (15th March 2020) were asked about their gambling behavior during lockdown in a supplementary online survey three weeks after the end of lockdown. A total of 55% of the 110 respondents reported having played during lockdown. Gambling intensity significantly decreased ( < 0.001) in our sample. Considering only those respondents ( = 66) who reported having gambled during lockdown, gambling intensity also decreased ( < 0.001), but online gambling significantly increased ( < 0.002). Those players who have increased their gambling activity require particular attention. It is important that casinos respond with appropriate player protection measures to those who have increased their gambling activity during the pandemic.
冠状病毒大流行（COVID-19）对全球大多数社会造成了重大影响，包括 2020 年春季关闭非必要业务。本研究考虑了其对赌博行为的影响。特别是，研究了瑞士线下赌场玩家自我报告的赌博行为变化。还调查了在封锁期间赌博和不赌博的受访者的主要特征。本研究嵌入在一项正在进行的纵向研究中，该研究分三个时间点检查了赌场玩家的赌博行为。所有在截止日期（2020 年 3 月 15 日）之前参加了纵向研究第一波的受访者都被要求在封锁结束后的三周内，通过补充在线调查回答他们在封锁期间的赌博行为。共有 110 名受访者中的 55%报告在封锁期间有赌博。我们的样本中，赌博强度显著降低（<0.001）。仅考虑那些报告在封锁期间有赌博的受访者（n=66），赌博强度也有所降低（<0.001），但在线赌博显著增加（<0.002）。那些增加赌博活动的玩家需要特别关注。重要的是，赌场应针对那些在大流行期间增加赌博活动的人采取适当的玩家保护措施。
