Abstract
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 (p < 0.001) in our sample. Considering only those respondents (n = 66) who reported having gambled during lockdown, gambling intensity also decreased (p < 0.001), but online gambling significantly increased (p < 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.
Highlights
The coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on most societies worldwide, including the closure of non-essential businesses in spring 2020
One possibility is that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic changes to the amount of time spent at home, and likely increases in time spent online
Stay-at-home mandates and quarantines increase the consumption of digital forms of entertainment, especially online games and related activities [5,6]. Another plausible reason why more people have been gambling online could be that players who previously participated in land-based gambling migrated to online gambling during the casino closures [7,8]
Summary
Likewise, gambling has been affected in many ways during the COVID-19 pandemic, including casino closures during the lockdown and the implementation of safety measures upon re-opening. Stay-at-home mandates and quarantines increase the consumption of digital forms of entertainment, especially online games and related activities (e.g., following sports broadcasts and video game streaming) [5,6]. Another plausible reason why more people have been gambling online could be that players who previously participated in land-based gambling migrated to online gambling during the casino closures [7,8]. Specific to pandemics, the same social distancing phenomena that may increase some types of gambling are likely to have opposite effect on other types: Pausing sport events means that there are fewer possibilities for betting, and closing terrestrial casinos, as well as restaurants and clubs with slot machines, obviously reduces these types of gambling opportunities [3,10]
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