Session Title

Session 3-1-C: Harm Prevention and The State of Play

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

25-5-2023 9:00 AM

End Date

25-5-2023 10:30 AM

Disciplines

Medicine and Health | Social Psychology

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic involved several behavioral changes in the world’s population. Extended periods of isolation were one of its most defining features of it. These changes affected people's relationship with gambling, both in terms of access and socialization processes associated with it. Asocial gambling is one of the features of problematic gambling, and it was particularly fit to grow in the framework of long periods of isolation.

The article reports the differences in the prevalence of problem gambling in the general Chilean population as well as the changes in the characteristics of gamblers between 2018 and 2022. The study uses a household-based representative sample of people living in the metropolitan city of Santiago de Chile. The primary comparison tool is the validated version of NODS.

The results show an increase in at-risk gamblers during the last year, passing from 9.6% to 13.1%, and a large increase in problematic and pathological gamblers, passing from 2.2% to 8.3%. These results show a particular increase in problem gambling among young males and particularly among gamblers involved in online gambling.

Keywords

Gambling disorders; NODS; Chile; Survey; COVID-19; Latin America

Author Bios

JC Oyanedel is Professor of Social Sciences at Andres Bello University in Santiago de Chile. He has been the leader of the Chilean problem gambling survey since its inception in 2015. He is a sociologist by training and got his Ph.D. from King's College London.

Mariela Huenchumilla is the head of responsible gambling at Sun Dreams LATAM. and president of the Chilean Association for Responsible Gambling. A social worker by training, she has also been involved in the creation of the Chilean problem gambling survey since its inception.

Funding Sources

This study has been funded by: *The Chilean Association for Responsible Gambling *Sun Dreams The funders have not had any role in the production and analysis of the data presented here. Statistical analysis was carried out entirely by the team at Andres Bello University. The opinions of the authors do not represent the views of their respective institutions.

Competing Interests

This study has been funded by: The Association for Responsible Gambling Sun Dreams The funders have not had any role in the production and analysis of the data presented here. Statistical analysis was carried out entirely by the team at Andres Bello University. The authors do not have any extra competing interests to disclose.

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May 25th, 9:00 AM May 25th, 10:30 AM

Problem gambling in Chile: a comparison between pre and post pandemic behavior 2018-2022

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

The COVID-19 Pandemic involved several behavioral changes in the world’s population. Extended periods of isolation were one of its most defining features of it. These changes affected people's relationship with gambling, both in terms of access and socialization processes associated with it. Asocial gambling is one of the features of problematic gambling, and it was particularly fit to grow in the framework of long periods of isolation.

The article reports the differences in the prevalence of problem gambling in the general Chilean population as well as the changes in the characteristics of gamblers between 2018 and 2022. The study uses a household-based representative sample of people living in the metropolitan city of Santiago de Chile. The primary comparison tool is the validated version of NODS.

The results show an increase in at-risk gamblers during the last year, passing from 9.6% to 13.1%, and a large increase in problematic and pathological gamblers, passing from 2.2% to 8.3%. These results show a particular increase in problem gambling among young males and particularly among gamblers involved in online gambling.