Gambling and COVID-19: Initial Findings from a UK Sample

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gambling and COVID-19

T2 - Initial Findings from a UK Sample

AU - Sharman, Steve

AU - Roberts, Amanda

AU - Bowden-Jones, Henrietta

AU - Strang, John

N1 - Funding Information: JS is a researcher and clinician who has worked with a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations, and with pharmaceutical and technology companies to seek to identify new or improved treatments from whom his employer (King’s College London) has received honoraria, travel costs and/or consultancy payments, but these do not have a relationship to the study and findings reported here. For a fuller account, see JS’s web-page at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/depts/addictions/people/hod.aspx . JS is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator and is supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. Funding Information: This study was funded by the National Addiction Centre (NAC), part of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, which is based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. Within the last 3 years: Funding Information: SS has received funding from the Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA), and the NIHR. He is currently employed at the NAC, part of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and declares no conflicts. Funding Information: AR has received funding from Santander, Public Health for Lincoln, The Royal Society, The Maurice and Jacqueline Bennett Charitable Trust, East Midlands RDS and internal University of Lincoln awards. She has no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/6/4

Y1 - 2021/6/4

N2 - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government placed society on ‘lockdown’, altering the gambling landscape. This study sought to capture the immediate lockdown-enforced changes in gambling behaviour. UK adults (n = 1028) were recruited online. Gambling behaviour (frequency and weekly expenditure, perceived increase/decrease) was measured using a survey-specific questionnaire. Analyses compared gambling behaviour as a function of pre-lockdown gambling status, measured by the Brief Problem Gambling Scale. In the whole sample, gambling participation decreased between pre- and during-lockdown. Both gambling frequency and weekly expenditure decreased during the first month of lockdown overall, but, the most engaged gamblers did not show a change in gambling behaviour, despite the decrease in opportunity and availability. Individuals whose financial circumstances were negatively affected by lockdown were more likely to perceive an increase in gambling than those whose financial circumstances were not negatively affected. Findings reflect short-term behaviour change; it will be crucial to examine, at future release of lockdown, if behaviour returns to pre-lockdown patterns, or whether new behavioural patterns persist.

AB - In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government placed society on ‘lockdown’, altering the gambling landscape. This study sought to capture the immediate lockdown-enforced changes in gambling behaviour. UK adults (n = 1028) were recruited online. Gambling behaviour (frequency and weekly expenditure, perceived increase/decrease) was measured using a survey-specific questionnaire. Analyses compared gambling behaviour as a function of pre-lockdown gambling status, measured by the Brief Problem Gambling Scale. In the whole sample, gambling participation decreased between pre- and during-lockdown. Both gambling frequency and weekly expenditure decreased during the first month of lockdown overall, but, the most engaged gamblers did not show a change in gambling behaviour, despite the decrease in opportunity and availability. Individuals whose financial circumstances were negatively affected by lockdown were more likely to perceive an increase in gambling than those whose financial circumstances were not negatively affected. Findings reflect short-term behaviour change; it will be crucial to examine, at future release of lockdown, if behaviour returns to pre-lockdown patterns, or whether new behavioural patterns persist.

KW - Behavioural addiction

KW - COVID-19

KW - Disordered gambling

KW - Gambling

KW - Lockdown

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107513278&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11469-021-00545-8

DO - 10.1007/s11469-021-00545-8

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85107513278

SN - 1557-1874

JO - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

JF - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

ER -