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The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in public health measures which unintentionally made unfortunate individual-, community- and system-level impacts. People experiencing gambling harm have distinctive vulnerabilities that are exacerbated during this period of uncertainty, physical distancing, self-isolation and changes to treatment services. This paper aims to investigate narratives of gambling harm to understand unmet needs in a COVID-19 context.

A leading international gambling support forum was mined for all posts associated with COVID-19 during 2020 and thematically analyzed.

A series of themes and subthemes that gamblers responded to the pandemic with a series of adaptive and maladaptive behaviors in line with the integrative theoretical framework of maladaptive consumption. Additionally, people experiencing gambling harm are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the standard public health notices do not meet their unique needs.

This research builds upon knowledge of the antecedents and consequences of maladaptive consumption behavior. Further, the findings show that the lack of preventative measures, such as targeted and timely information to combat adverse outcomes, and reflexive support services has made this time more challenging.

Despite increasingly persuasive women-focused marketing of gambling products, there has only been limited investigation around women sports betting. Men remain the focus of much of the conversation about sports betting as they have generally been found to be the most active sports bettors and the most at risk of experiencing harms associated with their behaviour. This chapter aims to fill this gap by exploring the characteristics of young women sports bettors in the United Kingdom and the relationship between sports betting and the experience of gambling harms. To do this, we created two models of analysis. Our analysis is based on data from the first wave (2019) of the Emerging Adults Gambling Survey (EAGS) dataset (n = 3,549). The EAGS is a non-probability longitudinal survey that includes individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 who were residents in Britain at the time of data collection. Firstly, we examined the associations between women sports bettors and several factors identified as important predictors of sports betting. Secondly, we sought to understand the relationship between women's sports betting and the harms associated with this activity. From these models, we found that women's sports betting was most reliably predicted according to fandom and peer influence. We also found that women sports bettors were more at risk of experiencing harms associated with difficulties with family and friends than women gamblers using other products.

Online investment platforms offer an environment that may lead some traders into excessive behaviors akin to gambling. Over the last decade, gambling behaviors associated with the stock market have attracted the attention of many researchers but the literature on the subject remains scarce. This study aims to present the results of live interviews with a sample (N = 100) of retail investors trading online, and contrasts trading habits with gambling behaviors.

Participants are divided in three groups according to their score on an adapted version of the Problem Gambling Severity Index (referred to as the PGSI-Trading), and their trading habits and behaviors are compared.

The authors find that traders with higher PGSI-Trading scores are more likely to display gambling-related behaviors such as trading within a short timeframe, being motivated by making money quickly and experiencing high sensations when trading.

The sample is small but the authors proceeded this way in order to gather some qualitative data that would be helpful to clinicians in the Province of Quebec. The questionnaire used to classify traders at risk of being gamblers (PGSI-Trading) has not been validated.

The findings of this study will be helpful to clinicians who hwork with patients suffering from excessive online stock trading habits.

Clinicians observe an increasing number of patients who consult with excessive stock trading habits. This study has brought new information allowing clinicians to better understand how gambling manifests itself on the stock market.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the trading habits of individuals classified in terms of their score on an adapted PGSI questionnaire.

This study aims to examine the relationship between investor gambling preferences and stock returns, using data for all firms listed in Shanghai A-share market during 2016 and 2021.

This study employs price and trading volume data to capture the behavioral characteristics and gambling preferences of investors. Using the Fama-French three-factor and five-factor models to estimate benchmark returns, this study investigates whether investing in gambling stocks can yield positive excess returns.

The study reveals that stocks identified as gambling stocks generate high returns in the month they are identified as such but subsequently experience a significant drop in excess returns compared to non-gambling stocks over the following one to six months. These results are found to be consistent across different methods used to classify gambling stocks and across various industry sectors.

This research provides insights into the risk-return tradeoff of different stock types and the factors that fuel irrational investment behavior. This research underscores the importance of considering the behavioral elements of investment, particularly in emerging markets where individual investors have a significant impact.

This study advises investors to avoid adopting a gambler or speculative mindset and instead make well-informed and calculated investment decisions that are in line with investors financial objectives and risk appetite. This approach can help create a more stable and sustainable financial market.

This study provides new evidence on the relationship between gambling preferences and future stock returns in financial markets and sheds new light on the important role of irrational factors in investment decisions.

This study aimed to examine the financial risk-taking behaviors of adult individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study was conducted with adults (n = 80) diagnosed with ADHD and healthy controls (n = 80). In order to measure risk-taking in the financial domain, the items in the investment and gambling sub-dimensions of the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) were applied.

Adults with ADHD had higher investment and gambling risk-taking and expected benefits scores than the control group, and there was no difference between the two groups in terms of risk perceptions. In the regression analysis, there was a positive linear relationship between the investment and gambling risk-taking scores and the expected benefits scores in both groups. There was a negative linear relationship between investment risk-taking and risk perceptions scores only in the control group.

In terms of investment and gambling, both risk-taking and expected benefits are greater in individuals with ADHD. It has been observed that while healthy individuals take investment risks, they evaluate according to the expected benefits and risk perceptions, while individuals with ADHD make evaluations only according to the expected benefits, risk perceptions do not predict financial risk-taking in individuals with ADHD. When it comes to risk-taking related to gambling, both groups take risks only according to their expectations of benefits, not their perceptions of risk. The study provides outputs that can contribute to the literature in terms of the effects of ADHD diagnosis on financial decision-making processes in the context of risk-taking.

Football is a popular sport among young people across Africa, incited by the heavy presence of European football that has become central to youth cultures, everyday social routines, forms of consumption and opportunities for establishing social status. A growing body of evidence suggests increasing trends in harmful gambling behaviours in African youth, while the proliferation of football betting particularly remains a critical potential risk for negative mental health outcomes among young people in Sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter draws on original empirical data from a web-based cross-sectional survey to examine the prevalence estimates and associations of socio-demographic and behavioural factors with football betting among young adults attending university in Ghana. It draws on a multivariable logistic regression model to assess the associations with football betting. Our findings point not only to the growing salience of football betting among male demographics, but also the role of peer culture, alcohol and media as predominant sources of participants' initiation of football betting. Moreover, participants indicated the motive ‘to make money’ as their single major motivation, which raises the prospect that football betting is used as a means to mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment. Overall, the study points to a need for harm prevention strategies that align more closely with public health approaches focused on students, their families, their communities and their universities/schools.

The purpose of this paper was (1) to examine the underexplored intersection of sports betting and favorite team loyalty, and (2) to assess differences in gambling behavior among sport bettors by varying levels of team loyalty.

A total of 1,555 National Football League (NFL) bettors and non-betting NFL fans were surveyed to assess media consumption across a mix of team loyalty attitudes and betting behaviors.

Statistically significant differences were found between four types of NFL fans (casual, team loyalty-dominant, betting-dominant and hybrid) as it relates to media consumption in various forms. Most notably, the results suggested symbiosis between the activities.

The symbiosis finding, though preliminary, suggests the activity provides an additional platform for consumers to connect with spectator sport. Furthermore, the act of betting, like participation in fantasy sports, appears to spur consumption of the NFL product generally. The study, however, was limited to NFL fans, did not specify the method for sports betting, nor the intensity of gambling.

Teams should not worry that betting detracts from fan engagement with the team product. Also, leagues and media providers should continue to highlight betting content as participants consume at higher rates than non-participating sports fans.

Team fandom may potentially moderate problem behavior among bettors. The betting results indicate being a loyal team fan lowers one’s gambling spend per month and largest bet compared to non-loyal bettors. However, the hybrid fan showed significantly higher media consumption levels.

Sports fans have more opportunities to interact and engage with their favorite games than ever before. However, consumers have limited amounts of time and money, and this study is one of the first to examine differences in fan interests and behaviors related to sport betting and team loyalty and the resulting viewership and consumption behavior.

An estimated 1.2 million students gamble, equating to approximately two in every three students. In the UK, university students have reached the legal age to gamble; many have received significant sums of financial support and will be responsible for managing their own finances. Some UK universities have acknowledged that students engage in gambling activity and the need to provide gambling-related support. However, more research is needed to better understand student gambling activities and how universities can optimise provision of support. The purpose of this study was to enhance this understanding.

A total of 210 university students completed an online survey to provide details of their gambling behaviour and views on the types of support that they felt would best support students.

Both gambling and non-gambling students reported a preference for specialised gambling-related support within student services without the requirement for gambling-focused workshops (p < 0.01). Follow-up analysis revealed a significantly greater proportion of females did not gamble (p < 0.01), that males spent more money when gambling (p < 0.01) and were higher risk gamblers than females (p < 0.01).

These results provide evidence for gambling support to feature overtly as part of university support and well-being services.

Sports betting has become more prevalent, visible and socially accepted in Western liberal societies than ever before. This normalisation of gambling on sports has been fuelled by deregulation, the omnipresence of advertising and the growing dependency of elite sports on sponsorship revenue streams from the gambling industry. That said, much remains to be uncovered about the mechanisms through which this normalisation of gambling occurs in sports. This chapter focuses on the role of sports clubs in Belgium and the Netherlands, drawing on empirical insights from two related studies that examine the oft-neglected salience of integrity as a key factor shaping gambling-related policy and practice at the organisational level. This sets the stage for a critical research agenda that can support the denormalisation of gambling, and the deconstruction of dominant discourses that frame sports betting as a fun, risk-free social practice.

This review aims to provide an overview of research from different academic disciplines to chart some of the key developments in retail cryptocurrency trading against the backdrop of the wider trading landscape, and how it has evolved in recent years. The purpose of this review is to provide researchers with a broad perspective to highlight the complex range of factors that drive cryptocurrency trading among retail investors.

Peer-reviewed literature from the social sciences, economics, marketing and branding disciplines is synthesised to explicate influential factors among retail cryptocurrency investors.

Online retail trading communities can create narratives that ascribe value to cryptocurrencies leading to consumer herding behaviours. The principles that underpin emotional branding and Fear of Missing Out can promote trading behaviour driven by heuristic processing and cognitive biases. Concurrently, the tenets of controversial marketing and the anti-establishment nature of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies serve to bolster in-group out-group categorisations fostering continued investment and market volatility. Consequently, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading more broadly offer a powerful combination of excitement from risk-taking akin to gambling buffered by the sanctity of social inclusion.

A broader, unique perspective on retail cryptocurrency trading which assists in better understanding the complexities that underpin its appeal to retail investors.