Gambling and the COVID-19 pandemic in the province of Quebec (Canada): results from an online cross-sectional survey of people who had gambled within the last 12 months.

OBJECTIVES

This article presents the quantitative phase of a two-phase mixed methods study. The main objective of this article is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected adult gamblers' gambling behaviours and mental health in Quebec.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional online survey was used to collect data.

SETTING

Quebec (Canada).

PARTICIPANTS

A sample of 973 gamblers completed the problem gambling severity index (PGSI). The participants were French-speaking adults living in the province of Quebec, and they had gambled at least once in the preceding 12 months.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Descriptive analysis, χ 2 or the Monte Carlo estimation, Kruskal-Wallis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

In the sample, 24.7% were no-risk gamblers, 18.6% were low-risk gamblers, 27.9% were moderate-risk gamblers and 28.9% were high-risk or problem gamblers. Most of the participants reported an increase in their online gambling, in the duration in which they were available for gambling, and the frequency with which they gambled during the pandemic. The results of this study suggest positive associations between PGSI scores and symptoms of depression and anxiety. In this study, 11 independent variables explained 50.9% of the variance of problematic gambling (ie, PGSI ≥ 3) during the COVID-19 pandemic. These variables are related to types of gambling, psychosocial factors, changes in tobacco use and gambling expenditures and high gambling frequency in the last 12 months.

CONCLUSION

Given the general increase in gamblers' various gambling behaviours during the pandemic, along with the observed impacts on their mental health and reluctance to seek assistance for problematic gambling, future research must explore the mental health of gamblers after COVID-19-related public health measures were eased.