Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul 20;10(3):711-721.
doi: 10.1556/2006.2021.00033.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on gambling habit: A cross-sectional study from Italy

Alessandra Lugo  1 , Chiara Stival  1 , Luca Paroni  1 , Andrea Amerio  2   3 , Giulia Carreras  4 , Giuseppe Gorini  4 , Luisa Mastrobattista  5 , Adele Minutillo  5 , Claudia Mortali  5 , Anna Odone  6   7 , Roberta Pacifici  5 , Biagio Tinghino  8 , Silvano Gallus  1
Affiliations

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on gambling habit: A cross-sectional study from Italy

Alessandra Lugo et al. J Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Few preliminary studies have shown an impact of COVID-19 confinement on gambling habits. We aim to evaluate short-term effects of lockdown restrictions on gambling behaviors in Italy.

Methods: Within the project Lost in Italy, a web-based cross-sectional study was conducted on a representative sample of 6,003 Italians aged 18-74 years, enrolled during April 27-May 3 2020, and were asked to report gambling activity before the lockdown and at the time of interview.

Results: The prevalence of participants reporting any gambling decreased from 16.3% before lockdown to 9.7% during lockdown. Traditional gambling decreased from 9.9 to 2.4% and online gambling from 9.9 to 8.0%. Among gamblers, median time of gambling grew from 4.5 to 5.1 h/month. Among non-players before lockdown, 1.1% started playing. Among players before lockdown, 19.7% increased gambling activity. Multivariate analysis showed an increase in gambling activity in younger generations (p for trend = 0.001), current smokers (odds ratio, OR 1.48), users of electronic cigarettes (OR 1.63), heated tobacco products (OR 1.82), cannabis (OR 5.16), psychotropic drugs (OR 3.93), and subjects having hazardous alcohol drinking (OR 1.93). Self-reported low quality of life (OR 1.97), low sleep quantity (OR 2.00), depressive symptoms (OR 3.06) and anxiety symptoms (OR 2.93) were significantly related to an increase in total gambling activity during lockdown.

Discussion and conclusions: Although gambling substantially decreased during lockdown, time spent in gambling slightly increased. The strong relationship found between compromised mental health and addictive behaviors calls for urgent policies to prevent vulnerable populations from increasing and developing severe gambling addiction.

Keywords: COVID-19; Italy; gambling; lockdown; mental health; poly-addiction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Distribution of gambling habit before and during COVID-19 lockdown in 6,003 Italian adults, by type of gambling (traditional, online or both) and according to sex, age and geographic area. Italy 2020. PRE = pre-lockdown (reference time: early February 2020); POST = during-lockdown (reference time: within four weeks before the time of filling out the questionnaire); NORTH = North of Italy; CENTER = Center of Italy; SOUTH = South of Italy and Italian Islands
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Percent use (%) of gambling by specific game among the 6,003 Italians before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Italy, 2020. VLT = Video Lottery Terminal; pre-lockdown (reference time: early February 2020); during-lockdown (reference time: within four weeks before the time of filling out the questionnaire)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agenzie Dogane Monopoli . (2020). Prot.: 180229/RU - Determinazione direttoriale. Avaliable at: https://www.adm.gov.it/portale/documents/20182/5799244/Determinazione+Ri... [Accessed: 03/12/2020].
    1. Australian Institute of Criminology . (2020). Changes in online gambling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Avaliable at: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2020-05/apo-nid303... [Accessed: 12/10/2020].
    1. Bogart, W. A. (2011). Permit But Discourage: Regulating Excessive Consumption . New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
    1. Bonfils, N. A. , Grall-Bronnec, M. , Caillon, J. , Limosin, F. , Benyamina, A. , Aubin, H. J. , et al. (2019). Giving room to subjectivity in understanding and assessing problem gambling: A patient-centered approach focused on quality of life. Journal of Behavioral Addictions , 8(1), 103–113. 10.1556/2006.7.2018.137. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buysse, D. J. , Reynolds, C. F. 3rd , Monk, T. H. , Berman, S. R. , & Kupfer, D. J. (1989). The Pittsburgh sleep quality index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Research , 28(2), 193–213. 10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources