Abstract
Online gambling has significantly altered the situational and structural characteristics of gambling products, to the extent that online gamblers might be substantially different from traditional offline gamblers. A growing body of literature has identified the evolving features of online gambling and the individuals who engage in it. However, beyond understanding the individual characteristics of this subgroup, relatively less effort has been made to examine whether existing cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches are still entirely relevant for online problem gamblers, or whether changes are needed to adapt according to gambling mode of access. To understand what kind of challenges online gambling poses to mental health professionals dealing with disordered gamblers, four focus groups comprising 28 Spanish participants were carried out. All the treatment providers had ongoing experience with online gamblers undergoing treatment, and included clinical psychologists, mental health social workers, and a medical doctor. The data were examined using thematic analysis. The analysis identified five main themes that characterised online gamblers: (1) being of younger age, (2) lack of conflicts at home and at work/educational centre, rarely presenting violent or aggressive behaviour, (3) gambling disorder only being identified by overdue debt, (4) co-occurring conditions with technology-related abuse rather than other substance-related addictions, and (5) skill-based gambling. The study highlights mental health workers’ perceived insecurities about how to best treat online gamblers, and discusses the specific characteristics that CBT for gambling disorder might need to incorporate to adjust for this particular group of gamblers.
Highlights
In parallel to the growth of online gambling participation worldwide (Gainsbury et al, 2015; Wood & Williams, 2009), the number of treatment-seeking gamblers who prefer to gamble online is rising (Hing et al, 2015; Sharman et al, 2019)
Four focus groups (FGs) were conducted between March and May 2019 in the Spanish cities of Toledo and Madrid
The study contended that online gamblers present differing characteristics from those engaging in traditional offline gambling forms, and that online gambling itself, as a specific gambling form with singular situational and structural characteristics, presents significant differences that gambling disorder treatment should consider to better tailor its therapeutic goals
Summary
In parallel to the growth of online gambling participation worldwide (Gainsbury et al, 2015; Wood & Williams, 2009), the number of treatment-seeking gamblers who prefer to gamble online is rising (Hing et al, 2015; Sharman et al, 2019). While evidence indicates that offline gamblers are overrepresented in clinical settings (Moragas et al, 2015) as well as helplines assisting problem gamblers (Ledgerwood et al, 2012), a small number of jurisdictions (e.g., Sweden) have reported that online gamblers seeking help have surpassed offline gamblers for the first time (Håkansson et al, 2017). The COVID-19 pandemic has provided an additional impulse for online gambling as an alternative to the restrictions applied to land-based gambling venues (Brodeur et al, 2021). The actual impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on problem gambling remains to be determined (Gainsbury et al, 2020; Hodgins & Stevens, 2021; Zamboni et al, 2021), the evidence suggests that there are more active online gamblers than before the pandemic (Auer & Griffiths, 2021). In Spain, where the current study was carried out, registered online gamblers increased by 8.36% from 2019 to 2020 (Dirección General de Ordenación del Juego, 2021)
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