Kalke Jens, Schütze Christian, Lahusen Harald, Buth Sven
Department of Psychiatry, Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research of Hamburg University, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
Institute for Interdisciplinary Addiction and Drug Research, Hamburg, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 5;13:857234. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.857234. eCollection 2022.
In spring 2020, the first nationwide lockdown in response to the spreading COVID-19 pandemic came into effect in Germany. From March to May, gambling venues, casinos, and betting offices were forced to close. This study explores how land-based gamblers respond to short-term closures of higher-risk forms of gambling. Which gamblers are particularly susceptible to switching to online gambling? Which are more likely to use the lockdown as an opportunity to quit or pause gambling? Potential parameters for these switching or cessation processes are identified using multivariate multinomial logistic regression analysis.
The research questions are analyzed on the basis of quantitative data. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among members of a comparatively large German online access panel ("PAYBACK panel"). The sample of analysis consisted of 612 gamblers who had participated in at least one higher-risk form of gambling and had done so exclusively offline before the first lockdown (January and February 2020).
A total of 37.1% of sports bettors ceased participation in higher-risk forms of gambling, compared to 64.1% of casino gamblers. Switching to online gambling, on the other hand, was a rather rare event, regardless of the form of gambling: the proportions differ between 7.7% (slot machines) and 10.9% (sports betting). In the multivariate model female gender, younger age, and a lower frequency of gambling before the first lockdown were found to be significant factors for quitting (instead of continuing) higher-risk offline gambling forms. Secondly, the analysis revealed that individuals with more pronounced cognitive distortions had an increased risk of switching to online gambling rather than staying offline.
A key finding of this study is that the temporary closure of offline venues does not result in a significant shift towards the online market. Instead, the results of this study show that these short, temporary closures of gambling venues were an appropriate opportunity to give individual groups of gamblers the opportunity to reflect, reduce or quit gambling. It is worth considering implementing such temporary closures as a preventive measure in the future - this should be investigated in advance in further evaluation studies.
2020年春季，德国为应对新冠疫情蔓延首次实施全国范围封锁。从3月到5月，赌博场所、赌场和投注站被迫关闭。本研究探讨实体赌场赌客如何应对高风险赌博形式的短期关闭。哪些赌客特别容易转向在线赌博？哪些人更有可能利用封锁期戒赌或暂停赌博？通过多变量多项逻辑回归分析确定这些转变或戒赌过程的潜在参数。
基于定量数据对研究问题进行分析。为此，对一个规模相对较大的德国在线访问面板（“回报面板”）的成员进行了调查。分析样本由612名赌客组成，他们至少参与过一种高风险赌博形式，并且在首次封锁（2020年1月和2月）之前仅在实体赌场赌博。
共有37.1%的体育投注者停止参与高风险赌博形式，而赌场赌客的这一比例为64.1%。另一方面，转向在线赌博是相当罕见的情况，无论赌博形式如何：比例在7.7%（老虎机）和10.9%（体育投注）之间有所不同。在多变量模型中，女性、较年轻以及首次封锁前较低的赌博频率被发现是停止（而非继续）高风险线下赌博形式的重要因素。其次，分析表明，认知扭曲更明显的个体转向在线赌博而非继续线下赌博的风险增加。
本研究的一个关键发现是，线下场所的临时关闭并未导致向在线市场的显著转变。相反，本研究结果表明，这些赌博场所的短期临时关闭是一个适当的契机，让个别赌客群体有机会反思、减少或戒赌。值得考虑在未来将这种临时关闭作为一种预防措施实施——这应在进一步的评估研究中提前进行调查。
