The association between gambling marketing and unplanned gambling spend: synthesised findings from two online cross-sectional surveys

Wardle, H. , Critchlow, N., Brown, A., Donnachie, C., Kolesnikov, A. and Hunt, K. (2022) The association between gambling marketing and unplanned gambling spend: synthesised findings from two online cross-sectional surveys. Addictive Behaviors, 135, 107440. (doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107440) (PMID:35973384) (PMCID:PMC9587351)

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Abstract

Background: In 2020, the British Government initiated a review about whether to introduce stricter controls on gambling marketing. We examine: (i) what proportion of regular sports bettors and emergent adult gamblers report that marketing has prompted unplanned spend; and (ii) what factors are associated with reporting that marketing had prompted unplanned spend. Methods: Data are from two British non-probability online surveys with: (i) emerging adults (16-24 years; n=3,549; July/August 2019) and (ii) regular sports bettors (18+; n=3,195; November 2020). Among current gamblers, logistic regressions examined whether reporting that gambling marketing had prompted unplanned spend (vs. never) was associated with past-month marketing awareness, past-month receipt of direct marketing (e.g., e-mails), following gambling brands on social media, and problem gambling classification. Results: Almost a third of current gamblers reported that marketing had prompted unplanned gambling spend (sports bettors: 31.2%; emerging adults: 29.5%). Escalated severity of problem gambling was associated with reporting that marketing had prompted unplanned spend in both samples, in particular those experiencing gambling problems compared to those experiencing no problems (sports bettors: ORAdj=17.01, 95% CI: 10.61-27.27; emerging adults: ORAdj=11.67, 95% CI: 6.43-21.12). Receipt of least one form of direct marketing in the past month and following a gambling brand on at least one social media platform was also associated unplanned spend among sports bettors and emerging adults. Conclusion: Among emerging adults and regular sports bettors, increased severity of gambling problems, receiving direct marketing, and following gambling brands on social media are associated with reporting that marketing has prompted unplanned spend.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Hunt, Professor Kathryn and Wardle, Professor Heather and Brown, Ms Ashley and Donnachie, Dr Craig and Kolesnikov, Mr Alexey
Creator Roles:
Wardle, H.Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review and editing
Brown, A.Methodology, Project administration, Writing – review and editing
Donnachie, C.Data curation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing – review and editing
Kolesnikov, A.Formal analysis, Writing – review and editing
Hunt, K.Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision
Authors: Wardle, H., Critchlow, N., Brown, A., Donnachie, C., Kolesnikov, A., and Hunt, K.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
Journal Name:Addictive Behaviors
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0306-4603
ISSN (Online):1873-6327
Published Online:25 July 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Authors
First Published:First published in Addictive Behaviors 135: 107440
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
314613Technological changes and the health and wellbeing of youth: A case study of gamblineHeather WardleWellcome Trust (WELLCOTR)200306/A/15/ZS&PS - Sociology