Risk Factors for Gambling Disorder- A Systematic Review

This paper provides a systematic review of risk factors for gambling disorder. Systematic searches of EBSCO, Pub- Med, and Web of Science identified 33 records that met study inclusion criteria.

Quantitative 

Co-Occurring

• Low-severity gamblers were approximately 2x as likely to have low mental well-being.
• Moderate/high-severity players were 3x more likely to have low mental well-being

Qualitative

• Sociodemographic risk factors did not demonstrate a direct role in the development of gambling harm, when other factors were controlled

Gender

• Women prefer to bet on:
  • Easy bets (easy bets are considered safer, therefore, with a greater chance of winning).
  • Electronic gambling machines,
  • Scratch cards or bingo for reasons other than socializing,
  • Earning money, or
  • For general entertainment.
• Men prefer to bet on:
  • Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs),
  • Table games,
  • Races,
  • Sports, or
  •  Lotteries.
• Men were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior towards gaming equipment.
• pathological gamblers have greater difficulties in family and social relationships than non-players

Risk Factors:

• Male
• Young
• Single
• Live alone
• Been married less than 5 years
• More educated
• Working or studying full-time
• or unemployed.
• Grew up in a single-parent home
• With parent(s) who had addiction issues
• Impulsivity
• Stress
• dissociative experiences
• absorption
• Diversity of gambling activities.
• Higher session spend,
• Longer sessions,
• More frequent iGaming.
• Tobacco use.

iGaming Risk Factors

• More frequent gambling in online Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM)s,
• Substance use while gambling, and
• Greater psychological distress.

Sports Betting Risk Factors

• Mostly male,
• Young,
• Spoke a language other than English,
• Were under greater psychological stress

Online Race Betting Risk Factors 

• Betting more often on races,
• Engaging in more forms of gambling,
• Self-reporting as a semiprofessional/ professional gambler
• Using illicit drugs while betting.

Women’s Risk Factors

• The number of gambling activities.
• Greater problem severity and shorter problem duration,
• Lower quality of life.

Men’s Risk Factors

• Less education and
• Less adaptive psychorelational skills.
• Signs of emotional distress
• Trying to hide their presence in the game room from others.

Conclusions

• Consequences of problem gambling include depression, anxiety, mood disorders, and substance use disorders.
• Troublesome gambling and several of its mental health were not associated with troubling video game use.
• The growing availability of gambling in recent decades, a low social knowledge about gambling disorders, and a perception of gambling more in terms of moral weakness than a psychological/psychiatric disorder have an impact on the social acceptance of gambling behaviors.

Recommendations

Research

• Future research would benefit from making comparisons, not just across gender, but also across culture. Researchers should further explore and understand how cultural environments influence the development of problematic gambling.

Treatment

Treatment providers should have a strong education/training background on diagnosis of gambling disorder, adaptations of contents of therapeutic programs, and the creation of materials used in therapy adapted to the patient’s needs