Gambling helpline contacts during Covid-19-related availability restrictions: An interrupted time series analysis

Session Title

Session 3-4-E: The Effects of COVID-19 on Gambling

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Start Date

25-5-2023 3:30 PM

End Date

25-5-2023 5:00 PM

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

This presentation presents findings from a Nordic comparative study assessing the effect of Covid-19-related restrictions on gambling help-seeking via helplines in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. The influence of Covid-19-related restrictions on help-seeking were analyzed using interrupted time series analysis that considered the effects of restricted gambling availability during Covid-19 in each country. We also compared forecasted time series to the actual data to assess change. The results show diverging patterns across the three countries. The diverging results suggest that help-seeking behaviour is likely to be impacted by differing policy approaches to gambling availability and limit-setting, visibility of helplines, and the prevalence of different forms of gambling in the three Nordic countries before and during the pandemic.

Keywords

Covid19, social restrictions, help-seeking, helplines, Nordics, interrupted time series analysis

Author Bios

Søren Kristiansen, PhD, is the Associate Dean at the Faculty of the Social Sciences, Aalborg University, Denmark.

Virve Marionneau, PhD, is researcher at Centre for Research on Addiction, Control and Governance, Helsinki, Finland.

Håkan Wall, PhD, is researcher at Karolinska Instituttet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Funding Sources

The funding bodies had no involvement in any aspects of the research.

Competing Interests

The authors has no competing interests to declare.

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May 25th, 3:30 PM May 25th, 5:00 PM

Gambling helpline contacts during Covid-19-related availability restrictions: An interrupted time series analysis

This presentation presents findings from a Nordic comparative study assessing the effect of Covid-19-related restrictions on gambling help-seeking via helplines in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. The influence of Covid-19-related restrictions on help-seeking were analyzed using interrupted time series analysis that considered the effects of restricted gambling availability during Covid-19 in each country. We also compared forecasted time series to the actual data to assess change. The results show diverging patterns across the three countries. The diverging results suggest that help-seeking behaviour is likely to be impacted by differing policy approaches to gambling availability and limit-setting, visibility of helplines, and the prevalence of different forms of gambling in the three Nordic countries before and during the pandemic.