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Are There Riskier Types of Gambling?

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Abstract

Gambling-related harm is a public health issue requiring market regulation and efforts aimed at prevention and treatment. An important consideration for the regulation of gambling is whether certain types of gambling are intrinsically more harmful than others. The present study was a comprehensive investigation of this issue in a nationwide sample of 10,199 Canadian adult gamblers that included 1346 individuals with problem gambling. We investigated (a) the univariate cross-sectional association between individual types of gambling and problem gambling; (b) the cross-sectional association between individual gambling types and problem gambling when controlling for breadth of gambling involvement; (c) the prospective/lagged relationship between participation in different gambling types and future problem gambling; and (d) the self-reports of people with gambling problems concerning the types and modalities they consider to be most problematic. Our collective results indicate that breadth of gambling involvement is a stronger predictor of gambling problems than involvement in any particular type, but that involvement in certain types (electronic gambling machines in particular, and casino table games and online gambling to a lesser extent) does confer additional risk.

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Data Availability

The dataset generated by the AGRI National Project’s online panel surveys is available through Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO), https://www.springer.com/journal/10899/submission-guidelines#Instructions%20for%20Authors_Research%20Data%20Policy%20and%20Data%20Availability%20Statements.

Notes

  1. These were people who reported no involvement for any type of gambling, despite having indicated being a monthly gambler on the initial screening question.

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Funding

The online panel survey was jointly funded by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, and the Alberta Gambling Research Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive W, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Nolan B. Gooding

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive W, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Robert J. Williams

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Correspondence to Nolan B. Gooding.

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Gooding, N.B., Williams, R.J. Are There Riskier Types of Gambling?. J Gambl Stud (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-023-10231-0

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