The Prevalence of E-Gambling and of Problem E-Gambling in Poland

Abstract

This study estimated the levels of involvement in e-gambling and problem e-gambling in Poland and identified selected sociodemographic variables associated with e-gambling activities. The study was conducted using a representative sample of the adult inhabitants of Poland (n = 2000). The survey contained questions measuring three aspects of gambling (involvement in e-gambling, types of e-gambling activity, and problematic e-gambling). Results suggested that 4.1% of respondents were involved in e-gambling and 26.8% of them could be classified as problem gamblers. The most popular e-gambling games were lotteries and sports betting. Gender, age, size of city of residence, level of education, and income were identified as significant predictors of involvement in e-gambling. The results indicated that men, younger people, and people who earnt less were more often involved in e-gambling. Having children, playing online scratch cards, and online sport betting—but not online lotteries—turned out to be typical for problem online gamblers. The prevalence of problem gambling among Polish e-gamblers suggests that extended research in this area is needed.

Emerging Health and Education Issues Related to Internet Technologies and Addictive Problems

“…The problems studied are more specific IA problems rather than generalised IA (23% of the papers), which is a new trend on the field, and it is conversely opposite to the first two decades of research, in which IA was more prevalent than specific Internet use-related addiction problems. In order of frequency, in this second Special Issue, which was open to research on all addictive Internet and mobile phone use, the most prevalent problems ordered by frequency were: PMPU (38% [ 27 ]), IA (26% [ 16 ]), GD (23% [ 19 ]), SMA (18% [ 26 ]), OG (8% [ 39 ]), PUP (5% [ 37 ]), and PIS (3% [ 23 ]). This means the tendency before COVID-19 in the field was to study addictive problems related to the use of mobile technologies (e.g., PSU) and its risks, and this has increased during the pandemic [ 50 ].…”

Problem gambling among male Polish prisoners: A study of prevalence and psychosocial factors

“…For the purposes of screening pathological gamblers, we used SOGS, as developed by Lesieur and Blume (1987), as adapted for Poland in 2016 (Lelonek-Kuleta, Chwaszcz, Bartczuk, Niewiadomska, & Nowak, 2016). The maximum possible score in the questionnaire was 20 points.…”

Online Gambling Activity, Pay-to-Win Payments, Motivation to Gamble and Coping Strategies as Predictors of Gambling Disorder Among e-sports Bettors

“…Although the results are not consistent, the research most often shows a higher percentage of problem gamblers among online gamblers than offline gamblers (Canale et al, 2016;Effertz et al, 2018;Williams et al, 2012). The same was observed in Poland, where the symptoms indicating probable gambling addiction have occurred in 26.8% of online gamblers (Lelonek-Kuleta et al, 2020), while in Polish studies covering offline and online gamblers, 11.8% have displayed a risk (low to high) of gambling addiction (Moskalewicz et al, 2019). The study by Chóliz (2016) showed that in 2 years from legalizing online gambling in Spain, there was a nearly tenfold (from 2.53 to 24.21%) increase in the frequency of indicating this form of gambling as the leading cause of problems by patients seeking treatment for gambling addiction.…”