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
. 2024 Feb 27:15:1320592.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1320592. eCollection 2024.

Individual risk factors and prediction of gambling disorder in online sports bettors - the longitudinal RIGAB study

Theresa Wirkus  1 , Robert Czernecka  1   2 , Gerhard Bühringer  1   2   3 , Anja Kräplin  1
Affiliations

Individual risk factors and prediction of gambling disorder in online sports bettors - the longitudinal RIGAB study

Theresa Wirkus et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: While research in online sports betting is dominated by studies using objective player tracking data from providers to identify risky gambling behavior, basicresearch has identified various putative individual risk factors assumed to underlie the development of gambling disorder across all types of gambling. This study aims to examine individual risk factors and their longitudinal clinical relevance in online sports bettors.

Methods: German online sports bettors (N = 607, Mage = 34, 92% male) from a provider based sample took part in an online survey. The study team randomly preselected customers to be invited. N = 325 (53,45%) of the participants also took part in an online follow-up survey one year later. Crosssectional and longitudinal associations of putative risk factors and DSM-5 gambling disorder in online sports bettors were analyzed. These risk factors include alcohol and tobacco use, impulsivity, difficulties in emotion identification, emotion regulation strategies, comorbid mental disorders and stress.

Results: We found more pronounced impulsivity, difficulties in emotion identification, emotion suppression, comorbid mental disorders and stress were cross-sectionally associated with gambling disorder, and longitudinally predicted gambling disorder in online sports bettors (with the exception of emotion suppression). In an overall model only lack of premeditation and perceived helplessness remained significant as predictors for gambling disorder. Online sports bettors with gambling disorder predominantly showed more pronounced risk factors, which were also confirmed longitudinally as relevant for the maintenance of gambling disorder.

Discussion: Risk factors such as impulsivity and stress and appropriate coping mechanisms should consequently be integrated not only into prevention efforts to identify individuals at risk early, but also into intervention efforts to tailor treatment.

Keywords: gambling disorder; individual risk factors; longitudinal study; online gambling; online sports betting.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Authors RC and GB were employed by the company IFT Prävention und betriebliche Gesundheitsförderung GmbH, München. TW is funded by an unrestricted research donation to Technische Universität Dresden provided by Tipico. In the last 5 years RC was partly funded by an unrestricted research grant of members of the ‘Düsseldorfer Kreis’ (a group of key stakeholders from public and private gambling providers, research, and the support system) to Technische Universität Dresden and is now partly funded by an unrestricted research grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the context of the evaluation of gambling hall regulations. GB received unrestricted grants for gambling research activities from various public and commercial gambling providers and regulatory agencies. He is a member of the ‘Düsseldorfer Kreis’ (a group of key stakeholders from public and private gambling providers, research, and the support system) and was also partly funded by an unrestricted research grant from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the evaluation of gambling hall regulations. AK is mainly funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft - DFG) within the Collaborative Research Centre SFB 940 (project number 178833530). She is additionally funded by a grant from theInternational Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG) and was additionally funded by an unrestricted research grant from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action as part of the evaluation of gambling hall regulations from January 2022 until March 2023.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of participants of the RIGAB study (47). AI, Artificial Intelligence, classification according to provider’s algorithm. GD, Gambling Disorder assessed with DSM-5 Stinchfield screening questionnaire.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Castrén S, Heiskanen M, Salonen AH. Trends in gambling participation and gambling severity among Finnish men and women: cross-sectional population surveys in2002, 007, 2010 and2012, 015. BMJ Open. (2018) 8:e022129. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022129 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chóliz M, Marcos M, Lázaro-Mateo J. The risk of online gambling: a study of gambling disorder prevalence rates in Spain. Int J Ment Health Addict. (2021) 19:404–17. doi: 10.1007/s11469-019-00067-4 - DOI
    1. Gemeinsame Geschäftsstelle Glücksspielen . Jahresreport der Glücksspielaufsichtbehörden der Länder. Der deutsche Glücksspielmarkt - eine ökonomische Darstellung. Hessisches Ministerium des Inneren und für Sport. (2022). Available at: https://innen.hessen.de/sites/innen.hessen.de/files/2022-12/jahresreport... (Accessed January 27, 2023).
    1. Allami Y, Hodgins DC, Young M, Brunelle N, Currie S, Dufour M, et al. . A meta-analysis of problem gambling risk factors in the general adult population. Addiction. (2021) 116:2968–77. doi: 10.1111/add.15449 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Calado F, Griffiths MD. Problem gambling worldwide: An update and systematic review of empirical research2002, (000–2015). J Behav Addict. (2016) 5:592–613. doi: 10.1556/2006.5.2016.073 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources