Gambling online is a huge and growing industry: Casino games, sports betting, poker, fantasy sports and lotteries are now available on many platforms. While online gambling can be fun and exciting, it can also lead to serious problems. These problems can include debt, disrupted relationships and feelings of withdrawal when gambling is stopped. These issues are similar to those that can be seen with other types of addiction, including alcohol and drug use. It is important to seek help if you have these symptoms.
In this article, we review the current state of knowledge regarding risk and protective factors for disordered gambling in the online context. A literature search was conducted in three academic databases using the syntax (ab(online, internet, interactive) AND ab(gamble*) OR ab(risk factor*) OR ab(protective factor*) OR ab(predictor*) OR ab(correlate*)).
The results indicate that many of the same risk factors for offline gambling can be found for online gambling, such as lower incomes, poor educational achievements, and higher impulsivity. However, it is also clear that there are unique aspects of the online environment that could influence gamblers and which may need to be incorporated into prevention interventions. For example, online gambling is more likely to be undertaken by people from populations that are already at higher risk of developing problem gambling. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that people who start gambling online are more likely to transition to disordered gambling in the future. It is therefore vital to continue to study the prevalence of disordered gambling in the online context and identify the factors that can be used to develop effective prevention strategies.