Who is most at risk of problem gambling online? Predictors from international internet gamblers

What is it about?

Online gambling participation was growing rapidly in the early 2010s, yet the specific predictors of problem gambling in online environments were poorly understood and potentially distinct from those established for offline gambling. This study collected data from 1,119 participants recruited via posts on 32 international gambling websites. Participants completed measures covering demographics, types of gambling activity, frequency of online gambling, and reasons for choosing to gamble online. Multinomial logistic regression identified the predictors that distinguished online problem gamblers from non-problem gamblers. Compared to non-problem gamblers, online problem gamblers were significantly more likely to be male, to smoke, to gamble alone, to have a disability, to lie about their age online, to gamble for more than four hours at a time, to engage in two or more online gambling activities regularly, to gamble following a near miss, and to drink alcohol while gambling online. The study also examined whether these predictors aligned with or diverged from established predictors of offline problem gambling.

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Why is it important?

Understanding who is most at risk of problem gambling online is essential for designing effective harm reduction tools, responsible gambling features and regulatory interventions in online gambling environments. The structural characteristics of online gambling, including 24-hour access, easy switching between games, and the absence of social cues that might moderate in-person gambling, create distinct risk profiles that offline-derived models do not fully capture. This study was among the first to use a large international sample to empirically map the predictors specific to online problem gambling. The identification of behavioural risk markers, including multi-game engagement, extended session length, near-miss chasing and concurrent alcohol use, has direct relevance for platform design and self-exclusion policy. The findings contributed to an emerging evidence base on online gambling harm that has since grown substantially alongside the rapid global expansion of the sector.