Abstract
Bivariate associations of problem gambling with participation in particular game types often decrease when adjusting for demographics or consumption behavior (e.g., number of game types played). A summary of 14 peer-reviewed studies showed inconsistencies as well as conceptual and methodological challenges. The aim of this study was to expand previous research by a combination of (1) sophisticated feature-engineering, which disaggregates gambling intensity into facets within and beyond a game type of interest, and (2) the application of mediation models. Data comprised last year gamblers of three merged cross sectional Icelandic gambling surveys of 2007, 2011, and 2017 (N = 4422). For each of 15 game types (12-month time frame), a parallel multiple mediation model was applied to disaggregate bivariate associations of last year game type participation and problem gambling (Problem Gambling Severity Index) by six mediating mechanisms: (1) demographic problem gambling propensity, (2) number of game types played, (3) gambling frequency within the type, (4) maximum gambling frequency across all types beyond, (5) usual spending within the type, (6) maximum usual spending across all types beyond. Games showed two distinct profiles via which mediator they mostly impacted problem gambling: Electronic gaming machines offline, scratch cards offline, live betting online, and poker offline as well as online impacted problem gambling mostly via gambling frequency within, whereas all other types mostly impacted via the number of game types played. The applied mediation models answer the question by which mechanism game types impact problem gambling in a more exhaustive way than previous research.
Highlights
A Quite Old Discussion About Problem Gambling, Game Type, and Gambling BehaviorIn general, it is a well known fact that problem gamblers tend to invest more time and money into gambling and usually participate in a larger number of games than non-problem gamblers (National Research Council 1999; Welte et al 2002)
Longitudinal data from Canada provided evidence that participating in casino games or playing electronic gaming machines (EGMs) at least once a month is a valid predictor of progression from low-risk to high-risk gambling involvement (Currie et al 2011)
The aim of this study is to provide a new framework of parallel multiple mediation analyses that may overcome the methodological challenges of current regression-based models [(1) no explicit statistical information about the importance and confidence of specific mechanisms probably impacting problem gambling, (2) multicollinearity of gambling behaviors, (3) lack of conceptual clarity]
Summary
A Quite Old Discussion About Problem Gambling, Game Type, and Gambling BehaviorIn general, it is a well known fact that problem gamblers tend to invest more time and money into gambling and usually participate in a larger number of games than non-problem gamblers (National Research Council 1999; Welte et al 2002). Earlier research findings suggest that continuous games with an element of skill or perceived skill are more strongly associated with problem gambling than other types of games (Dowling et al 2005; Griffiths 1999; Productivity Commission 1999). The analysis of cross-sectional data from Germany (Brosowski et al 2015) showed that even infrequent participation in EGMs (i.e., more than 2 days in the last year) reliably increased the risk of a current gambling disorder by a factor of 39. This result remained even after controlling for five demographic risk factors (age, gender, education, unemployment, migration background). Data from diagnostic interviews in Germany revealed that gambling on EGMs was associated with suicidal events in pathological gamblers independently of comorbid disorders (Bischof et al 2016)
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