Risks and Protective Factors of Online Gambling

Online Gambling is an activity in which participants bet on events using a virtual currency. The games are usually a mix of chance and skill. The activities can take many forms including betting on sports events, casino games such as blackjack or poker and lottery-like games such as bingo. While most countries regulate gambling, there are still a number of risks associated with this activity.

This article presents the current state of knowledge regarding risk and protective factors of online gambling among adults. A literature review was carried out in PubMed, PsychInfo and Scopus for peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2020. The research designs were cross-sectional. The risk and protective factors were analysed at the level of the individual, relational and contextual levels. Comparisons were made between online and offline gamblers, as well as between online nonproblematic and problematic gamblers.

Personality traits have not been explored extensively in this area, although high impulsivity was found to be significantly associated with online problem gambling, and low sociability and frugality were found to be related to nonproblematic gambling. The influence of contextual factors has also been little investigated. However, Gainsbury et al. reported that chasing losses is more common in online gamblers. Similarly, Khazaal et al. reported that female online gamblers are more likely to be within the most problematic cluster than males.

The use of a secure Internet connection is important for protecting online gambling transactions. A password should be used for each account, and the player should regularly check their bank statements to ensure no unauthorized transactions have occurred. They should report any unauthorized transactions immediately to the gambling site’s customer support team. It is advisable to choose a website that uses encryption and has two-factor authentication to protect your account.