Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
Sports betting is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Canada; recent prevalence estimates indicate that 7.9% of Canadian adults endorsed gambling on sports in the past year. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary closure of most major sports leagues worldwide beginning in March...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1018234/full |
| _version_ | 1797984806991036416 |
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| author | Elijah Otis Andy J. Kim Sherry H. Stewart Sherry H. Stewart Simon B. Sherry Igor Yakovenko Igor Yakovenko |
| author_facet | Elijah Otis Andy J. Kim Sherry H. Stewart Sherry H. Stewart Simon B. Sherry Igor Yakovenko Igor Yakovenko |
| author_sort | Elijah Otis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sports betting is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Canada; recent prevalence estimates indicate that 7.9% of Canadian adults endorsed gambling on sports in the past year. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary closure of most major sports leagues worldwide beginning in March of 2020. These sudden closures created a dramatic decrease in the availability of sports betting opportunities in the early stages of the pandemic, followed by a subsequent increase in availability as most sport leagues returned during the summer of 2020. Using a retrospective self-report measure of gambling participation, the present study investigated how the gambling behaviors of N = 85 past-year sports gamblers changed over the course of the pandemic. It was hypothesized that sports gamblers would report an initial decrease in gambling behaviors from pre-pandemic baseline levels to the early stages of the pandemic in May of 2020 when the availability of sports gambling was heavily restricted, followed by an increase in gambling behaviors from May to August, in accordance with the re-emergence of live sporting events. The general pattern of results supported the hypotheses, though gambling behaviors did not completely return to baseline levels. Beyond quantifying the changes in gambling behaviors over the early stages of the pandemic in Canada, results may have implications regarding the utility of voluntary gambling exclusion programs as well as legislation concerning gambling access. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:08:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2a5a21eb2fa14370b877fea19a49ef32 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:08:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-2a5a21eb2fa14370b877fea19a49ef322022-12-22T04:38:17ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402022-11-011310.3389/fpsyt.2022.10182341018234Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in CanadaElijah Otis0Andy J. Kim1Sherry H. Stewart2Sherry H. Stewart3Simon B. Sherry4Igor Yakovenko5Igor Yakovenko6Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaDepartment of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaSports betting is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Canada; recent prevalence estimates indicate that 7.9% of Canadian adults endorsed gambling on sports in the past year. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary closure of most major sports leagues worldwide beginning in March of 2020. These sudden closures created a dramatic decrease in the availability of sports betting opportunities in the early stages of the pandemic, followed by a subsequent increase in availability as most sport leagues returned during the summer of 2020. Using a retrospective self-report measure of gambling participation, the present study investigated how the gambling behaviors of N = 85 past-year sports gamblers changed over the course of the pandemic. It was hypothesized that sports gamblers would report an initial decrease in gambling behaviors from pre-pandemic baseline levels to the early stages of the pandemic in May of 2020 when the availability of sports gambling was heavily restricted, followed by an increase in gambling behaviors from May to August, in accordance with the re-emergence of live sporting events. The general pattern of results supported the hypotheses, though gambling behaviors did not completely return to baseline levels. Beyond quantifying the changes in gambling behaviors over the early stages of the pandemic in Canada, results may have implications regarding the utility of voluntary gambling exclusion programs as well as legislation concerning gambling access.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1018234/fullgamblingCOVID-19availability hypothesisCanadaadultssports betting |
| spellingShingle | Elijah Otis Andy J. Kim Sherry H. Stewart Sherry H. Stewart Simon B. Sherry Igor Yakovenko Igor Yakovenko Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Frontiers in Psychiatry gambling COVID-19 availability hypothesis Canada adults sports betting |
| title | Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada |
| title_full | Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada |
| title_fullStr | Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada |
| title_short | Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada |
| title_sort | changes in sports gambling behavior during the covid 19 pandemic in canada |
| topic | gambling COVID-19 availability hypothesis Canada adults sports betting |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1018234/full |
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