A retrospective study of knowledge management for integrated resorts (IRs) crisis preparedness

PurposeThis study aims to propose a systematic knowledge management model to explore the causal links leading to the organizational crisis preparedness (OCP) level of integrated resorts (IRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the intangible capital of organizational climate, dynamic capability, substantive capability and commitment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data obtained from IRs in Macau. The Wuli–Shili–Renli (WSR) approach underpins the study. Structural equation modeling following fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was used for data processing.FindingsThe results showed that organizational climate has an essential role in IRs preparedness for crises and affects their dynamic capacity, substantive capacity and commitment. The fsQCA results revealed that the relationships between conditions with a higher level of dynamic and substantive capability lead to higher OCP scores.Practical implicationsExecutives should develop systemic thinking regarding organization preparedness in IRs for crisis management. A comprehensive understanding of the IRs' business environment and crises is necessary, as they will require different factor constellations to allow the organization to perform well in a crisis. Financial support for employees could ensure their assistance when dealing with such situations. Rapid response teams should be set up for daily operations and marketing implementation of each level of the IRs management systems.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extant literature on IRs crisis management in the OCP aspect. The authors constructed a systematic composite picture of organization executives' knowledge management through the three layers of intangible capitals in WSR. Moreover, the authors explored causal links of WSR from symmetric and asymmetric perspectives.

The Role of Social Support and Belonging in Predicting Recovery from Problem Gambling.

Research indicates a role for both social support and belonging in addiction recovery, however little is known about the role of these constructs in the recovery from problem gambling, and whether they relate to the effectiveness of mutual aid groups such as Gamblers Anonymous. The aim of this study was therefore to explore the relationship between social support and belonging, and to assess the role of demographics (including group membership of GA), social support and/or belongingness in predicting gambling addiction recovery in terms of gambling urges and quality of life. Using a cross sectional design, participants identifying as having problem gambling (n = 60) completed an online questionnaire with two independent variables (Social Support and Belonging), two dependent variables (Gambling Urges and Quality of Life) to assess gambling addiction recovery and measures of GA membership. The results showed no significant association between gender, age, ethnicity, education or employment status and gambling urges or quality of life. Membership to GA, and length of membership were significantly associated with gambling recovery indicating that being a member of GA and longer membership was associated with lower gambling urges and higher quality of life. Further, the results showed a high but not perfect correlation between social support and belonging (r(58) = .81, p = < .01). A regression analysis showed that although there was a significant correlation between social support and belongingness, they played different roles in gambling addiction recovery. Social support alone predicted higher quality of life, but not a reduction in gambling urges; belonging (along with being a member of GA) predicted a reduction in gambling urges, but not an increase in quality of life. Social support and belonging have a differential impact on aspects of gambling addiction, and should be considered as different constructs. In particular, whilst the process underpinning reduced gambling urges is membership of GA and the sense of belonging it provides its members, social support per se is a better predictor of quality of life. These findings have implications for the development of treatment for problem gamblers in the future.

Hell for consumer addiction?: thematic analysis of COVID-19 narratives in a gambling support

PurposeThe 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. Design/methodology/approachA leading international gambling support forum was mined for all posts associated with COVID-19 during 2020 and thematically analyzed. FindingsA 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. Originality/valueThis 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.

Gambling-Motivated Market Attention and Stock Market Volatility

Retail investors show gambling preferences and pay greater attention to the market than individual stocks. Previous studies report a positive and significant relationship between market attention and volatility. This relationship results from the joint effects of attention to investment-motivated and gambling-motivated components. However, the separate roles of these two components have not yet been examined. Hence, this study applied principal component analysis to identify the gambling-motivated component from market attention and gambling-related variables. The investment-motivated component is the regression residual of the market's attention paid to the gambling-motivated component. This study linearly relates these two components to volatility. The generalized method of moments regression was used to resolve endogeneity problems and biased estimates. The Google search volume index is a proxy for unobserved retail investors' market attention. Using a daily sample of the Thai market from August 6, 2008, to September 30, 2022 (a total of 3,450 observations), this study found a positive relationship between market attention and stock market volatility. This relationship results from the positive effects of both investment-motivated and gambling-motivated components. Attention to gambling is more influential than attention to investment. The explanatory powers of gambling-attention and investment-attention for volatility were 81.33% and 18.67%, respectively. These effects were less pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gambling During the COVID-19 Crisis - A Cause for Concern

The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to worsen mental health problems in the general population, including increasing engagement in addictive behaviors. Here, we describe observations suggesting that the current crisis and its sequelae may worsen problem gambling. The current pandemic may impact financial and psychological well-being due to social isolation during spatial distancing, and these stressors in conjunction with substantial changes in gambling markets (land-based, online) during the pandemic may significantly influence gambling behaviors. This situation calls for rapid research initiatives in this area and preventive and regulatory measures by multiple stakeholders.Copyright © 2020 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sports Betting Tipsters as Professional Bettors: A Qualitative Interview Study

Although the COVID-19 pandemic impacted individuals who bet on sports, sports betting tipsters (SBTs;i.e., individuals who provide professional tips on the outcome of sporting events) were arguably among the most affected groups. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to explore how SBTs in Turkey were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including alternate forms of gambling engagement (e.g., e-sports betting). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 85 SBTs aged between 20 and 48 years. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify common themes. Based on the qualitative analysis, four themes emerged: (i) the meaning and role of sports betting, (ii) the effects of the pandemic on life and sports betting, (iii) comparing e-sports betting vs. traditional sports betting, and (iv) possible sports betting behavior if the pandemic continues. SBTs reported experiencing psychological distress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic's cancellation of sporting events. More specifically, SBTs reported a sense of emptiness because of the lack of sports betting. Furthermore, SBT reported suffering a loss of income and turning to e-sports betting during the pandemic. However, the majority of SBTs did not find betting on e-sports as exciting as traditional betting but reported they would continue to engage in e-sports betting if traditional sports betting was not available. The findings of this study can contribute to a better understanding of the impact of SBTs on individuals and further provide practical implications for policymakers to promote a safe, sustainable, and long-term growth of the sports betting industry in Turkey.

Identifying online sports betting motivations associated with betting intention

The online sports betting industry has grown exponentially since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports betting on May 14, 2018 (U.S. Betting Report, n.d.). Accordingly, various sport industries (e.g., major sporting media, major sporting leagues) have associated themselves rapidly and closely with this emerging and lucrative market (DraftKings, 2021a;King 2020a, 2020b). However, despite this enormous growth in the online sports betting industry, academic sport management journals have given little attention to the subject (Cason et al., 2020;Lopez-Gonzalez et al., 2020;Nosal & Lopez-Gonzalez, 2021;Stadder & Naraine, 2020). Further, although scholars have obtained valuable findings (e.g., economic motivation, sports betting operators' social media use, effect of macro environment, such as COVID-19, on online sports betting), our understanding of this sport market is still preliminary. To extend our knowledge of sport consumer behaviors related to online sports betting, this dissertation is designed to identify and examine the relationship between online sports betting motivations and online sports betting intentions. By applying extent theories (i.e., the push-pull framework, self-determination theory, and technology acceptance models) from online sport consumption and gambling studies, nine motivations to engage in online sports betting were identified: excitement;sport fandom;confidence in sport knowledge;positive/negative technology-readiness impulsivity;socialization;monetary gain;promotion, and convenience. These motivations were hypothesized to motivate online sports betting intention and examined with quota sampling data based upon the American Gaming Association's core sports bettors demographics (AGA, 2019). Confirmative factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine the measurement model and the hypotheses, respectively. The results revealed that four motivations (i.e., monetary gain, excitement, convenience, and negative technology-readiness) were related to online sports betting intention, while five motivations (sport fandom, positive technology-readiness, impulsivity, socialization, and promotion) were not. The results provided foundational knowledge of what motivates and encourages sport fans to engage participate in online sports betting based upon existing theories. In addition, the findings provide practical implications, as understanding the relative importance of multiple motivations to engage in online sports betting allows practitioners to allocate resources accordingly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

NON-SCHOOL E-BEHAVIOR OF UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS STUDENTS: PANDEMIC EFFECTS AND TRENDS

Positive undergraduate student e-behavior has long been a goal of business faculty. This study was therefore conducted to empirically examine if non-school electronic behaviors, excluding social media, were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. E-behaviors included both social/communication and recreational activities. Specifically, data collected during the three years prior to the pandemic were compared to data collected during the pandemic years of 2020-2021. Findings demonstrate with respect to seven of the nine behaviors examined, participation percent and participation minutes increased during the five-year study time frame and, in particular, increased greatly after the start of the pandemic. Further analysis found correlations between the usage minutes of various activities and variables such as gender, academic class, and study year.

Loot box consumption by adolescents pre- and post- pandemic lockdown.

Loot boxes are virtual items that can be redeemed to receive randomly selected other virtual items, and have been criticized for being similar to gambling. The presence of loot boxes in video games has dramatically increased since 2010, with little evidence available for the current prevalence rate of loot box purchasing in the general population, particularly during and following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. This study uses data from representative samples of American youth to estimate prevalence rates for video game play and loot box consumption before the pandemic (2019) and after the pandemic lockdowns (2022) to examine whether the pandemic has affected loot box usage in the general population and among gamers. The results suggest that youth loot box consumption has increased, rising from 24.9% in 2019 to 31.6% in 2022 among 8th grade (age 13-14) youth. The increase over this time period was larger for girls, though boys are still more likely to purchase loot boxes overall.

Gambling advertising on Twitter before, during and after the initial Australian COVID-19 lockdown.

Background and aims: COVID-19 resulted in the shutdown of almost all sporting competitions and most venue-based gambling opportunities. This study examines how wagering operators in Australia responded, by examining their advertising. Methods: The study compared Twitter activity during lockdown (March-May 2020) to the previous year for four major wagering operators. Results: Wagering operators continued to advertise in earnest, changing their marketing mix to include more race betting content, as races continued to operate. Most also promoted the only sports available, such as table tennis or esports. When sports resumed, sports betting advertising quickly returned to normal, or exceeded previous levels. Despite more content being available in the case of two operators, engagement from the public during lockdown was similar to or lower than previously. Discussion and conclusion: These results indicate that gambling operators can adjust quickly to major changes. These shifts appear to have been successful, with the increase in race betting during this period almost completely offsetting the decreases in sports betting. This is likely due in part to changes in advertising, which have been associated with increased betting activity, particularly amongst vulnerable people. Responsible gambling messages were virtually non-existent on Twitter, which contrasts with mandatory requirements in other media. The study highlights that regulatory changes to advertising, e.g., banning some content, are likely to be met with substitution of content, rather than reduction, unless advertising volume is also capped. The study also highlights the adaptive capacity of the gambling industry in the face of major disruption to supply.

Risk Factors for Gambling Disorder: A Systematic Review.

Gambling disorder is a common and problematic behavioral disorder associated with depression, substance abuse, domestic violence, bankruptcy, and high suicide rates. In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), pathological gambling was renamed "gambling disorder" and moved to the Substance-Related and Addiction Disorders chapter to acknowledge that research suggests that pathological gambling and alcohol and drug addiction are related. Therefore, this paper provides a systematic review of risk factors for gambling disorder. Systematic searches of EBSCO, PubMed, and Web of Science identified 33 records that met study inclusion criteria. A revised study acknowledges as risk factors for developing/maintaining a gambling disorder being a single young male, or married for less than 5 years, living alone, having a poor education, and struggling financially.

Payments transaction data from online casino players and online sports bettors.

Raw datasets were sourced from a U.S. based provider of digital gambling payments systems, who has demanded to remain anonymous. The raw datasets cover a time period of 6-years (2015-2021), representing over 300,000 customers and approximately 90 million transaction records. One of these raw datasets is a transaction log file representing customer payment transaction data across a variety of gambling merchants (e.g., online casinos, sportsbooks, and lottery providers). With this article we describe the transaction log file and provide two filtered subsets of the data. The subsets contain 1-year of customer payments transaction records for two gambling merchants: (1) a casino-focused brand and (2) a sports-focused brand. These data will be particularly helpful to researchers in the fields of gambling studies and behavioral sciences, and more generally for data and computer scientists. With digital payments becoming increasingly prevalent across the gambling industry, these data can be used to explore how individuals' payment behavior can inform us about their gambling behavior. The granularity and timespan of the data provide an opportunity to apply a variety of data science and machine learning techniques.

Australia's gambling epidemic: The role of Covid-19 support payment

Covid-19 exposed the whole world to numerous challenges ranging from health to economic recession. Nevertheless, it also impeded gambling activities. Here, we consider the relationship between Covid-19 support payment and gambling. Gambling is considered leisure for many game players but leads to multiple social and economic harms. This has led to a growing body of literature examining the factors that influence gambling. This paper contributes to this strand of the literature by utilizing the ordinary least square and instrumental variable approach to investigate if Covid-19 support payment is a driver of gambling. We utilize a wide range of gambling measures and different forms of Covid-19 support payment. Our findings show that Covid-19 support payment is positively associated with gambling. Our results also suggest a stronger effect for male gamblers and online gamblers compared to female gamblers and gamblers who gambled at the venue. © 2023 The Authors. Australian Economic Papers published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the volatility of conventional and Islamic stock indexes: a comparative study on ASEAN and GCC countries

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to adopt Morlet's wavelet method to examine the differences in the level of volatility (i.e. riskiness) between the conventional and Shari'ah indexes during the COVID-19 pandemic (February 4 to June 19, 2020) on selected Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. As a comparison, the equivalent time period of relative tranquillity is used;February 4 to June 19, 2019.Design/methodology/approachMorlet's wavelet method is used in analyzing the volatility levels for both the conventional and Shari'ah indexes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic for the selected ASEAN and GCC countries.FindingsThis study has several findings;first, the markets in the ASEAN region appear to be more volatile during the pandemic than in the GCC region. Second, most of the Shari'ah indexes were more volatile during the COVID-19 pandemic than their conventional counterparts. Nevertheless, the GCC index pairs appear to show more similarities between both the Shari'ah and conventional index.Practical implicationsThe findings from this study indicate that investors, government, regulators and all other stakeholders should stay vigilant during a pandemic or health threat period as it has become a pertinent source of volatility spillovers. As such, investors should devise optimal asset allocation strategies, portfolio diversification and portfolio rebalancing measures, taking into consideration not only financial adversity but also public health gravity as a potential source of turbulent markets.Originality/valueThis study uses the wavelet method to examine the volatility level of both the Shari'ah and conventional indexes during the COVID-19 pandemic and its equivalent time frame in 2019. It has further added to the Islamic literature by comparing the volatility between selected ASEAN and GCC countries. The wavelet method is most appropriate for short-duration studies as it captures both the time and frequency domains of the time-series behavior.

Gambling in football: How much is too much?

Football and gambling have a long, intertwined history. This commentary seeks to explore the changing nature and implications of this relationship, how the relationship has been affected by COVID-19, and how the relationship may change in the future. No new data were collected for this commentary. The commentary identifies some recent examples, and some examples from the more distant annals of football history, of the often-controversial history between football and gambling before discussing the increased prevalence of gambling industry shirt sponsors. Research highlighting the saturation of gambling in football is then discussed, and the implications of this. Different Government and Football Association responses to gambling in football, and the potential impact of COVID-19 related legislation are examined, before recommendations from the recent Lord Gambling Industry Committee are considered. The discussion of research in gambling and football highlights some of the ethical considerations facing clubs and legislators. This commentary brings together some of the issues surrounding the close relationship between gambling and football.

Gambling Attention and Retail Trading Volume

Retail investors pay limited attention to alternative gambling activities. More-attentive activities increase, whereas less-attentive activities decrease. However, attention is unobservable. Previous studies proxy gambling attention based on representative gambles, such as lotteries. These proxies incorporate general gambling and representative-gambling attention. Thus, previous studies have reported net effects. This study analyzes the effects of gambling attention on the trading of retail investors in the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Lotteries served as representative gambles. Gambling attention is decomposed into general gambling and lottery-specific components, enabling the study to separately estimate the effects of each component. Lotteries in Thailand offer fixed prizes. However, traditional proxies are not applicable. This study measures attention using the Google search volume index on a lucky-number query. The query is based on a superstitious belief that is unique to the Thai market. Using daily observations from August 6, 2008, to June 30, 2022, which totaled 3,388 observations, this study establishes that gambling attention has a net negative effect. When attention is decomposed, its general gambling and lottery-specific components exhibit positive and negative effects, respectively. Furthermore, the effect on the buying side was stronger than that on the selling side. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lottery-specific effects became positive. Retail investors responded to lottery-specific attention through stock trading.

The Relationship Between a History of High-risk and Destructive Behaviors and COVID-19 Infection: Preliminary Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened mental health concerns, but the temporal relationship between mental health conditions and SARS-CoV-2 infection has not yet been investigated. Specifically, psychological issues, violent behaviors, and substance use were reported more during the COVID-19 pandemic than before the pandemic. However, it is unknown whether a prepandemic history of these conditions increases an individual's susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to better understand the psychological risks underlying COVID-19, as it is important to investigate how destructive and risky behaviors may increase a person's susceptibility to COVID-19. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed data from a survey of 366 adults across the United States (aged 18 to 70 years); this survey was administered between February and March of 2021. The participants were asked to complete the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs-Short Screener (GAIN-SS) questionnaire, which indicates an individual's history of high-risk and destructive behaviors and likelihood of meeting diagnostic criteria. The GAIN-SS includes 7 questions related to externalizing behaviors, 8 related to substance use, and 5 related to crime and violence; responses were given on a temporal scale. The participants were also asked whether they ever tested positive for COVID-19 and whether they ever received a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. GAIN-SS responses were compared between those who reported and those who did not report COVID-19 to determine if those who reported COVID-19 also reported GAIN-SS behaviors (Wilcoxon rank sum test, α=.05). In total, 3 hypotheses surrounding the temporal relationships between the recency of GAIN-SS behaviors and COVID-19 infection were tested using proportion tests (α=.05). GAIN-SS behaviors that significantly differed (proportion tests, α=.05) between COVID-19 responses were included as independent variables in multivariable logistic regression models with iterative downsampling. This was performed to assess how well a history of GAIN-SS behaviors statistically discriminated between those who reported and those who did not report COVID-19. RESULTS: Those who reported COVID-19 more frequently indicated past GAIN-SS behaviors (Q<0.05). Furthermore, the proportion of those who reported COVID-19 was higher (Q<0.05) among those who reported a history of GAIN-SS behaviors; specifically, gambling and selling drugs were common across the 3 proportion tests. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that GAIN-SS behaviors, particularly gambling, selling drugs, and attention problems, accurately modeled self-reported COVID-19, with model accuracies ranging from 77.42% to 99.55%. That is, those who exhibited destructive and high-risk behaviors before and during the pandemic could be discriminated from those who did not exhibit these behaviors when modeling self-reported COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study provides insights into how a history of destructive and risky behaviors influences infection susceptibility, offering possible explanations for why some persons may be more susceptible to COVID-19, potentially in relation to reduced adherence to prevention guidelines or not seeking vaccination.

Gambling and COVID-19: Initial Findings from a UK Sample.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government placed society on 'lockdown', altering the gambling landscape. This study sought to capture the immediate lockdown-enforced changes in gambling behaviour. UK adults (n = 1028) were recruited online. Gambling behaviour (frequency and weekly expenditure, perceived increase/decrease) was measured using a survey-specific questionnaire. Analyses compared gambling behaviour as a function of pre-lockdown gambling status, measured by the Brief Problem Gambling Scale. In the whole sample, gambling participation decreased between pre- and during-lockdown. Both gambling frequency and weekly expenditure decreased during the first month of lockdown overall, but, the most engaged gamblers did not show a change in gambling behaviour, despite the decrease in opportunity and availability. Individuals whose financial circumstances were negatively affected by lockdown were more likely to perceive an increase in gambling than those whose financial circumstances were not negatively affected. Findings reflect short-term behaviour change; it will be crucial to examine, at future release of lockdown, if behaviour returns to pre-lockdown patterns, or whether new behavioural patterns persist.

Online Gambling in the Midst of COVID-19: A Nexus of Mental Health Concerns, Substance Use and Financial Stress.

This study examined the emerging impact of COVID-19 on gambling during the first 6 weeks of emergency measures in Ontario, Canada. A cross-sectional online survey of 2005 gamblers, including a sub-sample of 1081 online gamblers (age 18 years and older), was administered to assess risky gambling behaviours and motivations, financial impacts from COVID-19, the influence of COVID-19 on online gambling, mental health concerns and substance use. A series of odds ratio comparisons and measures of association were carried out. Results show significant likelihood of online gambling among those classified as high-risk gamblers (according to the Problem Gambling Severity Index) and those with past experience of online gambling, though migration from land-based gambling was apparent. Among high-risk online gamblers, the most predictive risk factors included moderate and severe anxiety and depression, reduced work hours, being influenced to gamble due to COVID-19, gambling under the influence of cannabis or alcohol and risky gambling motives tied to mental health concerns, including gambling because it helps with nervousness and depression, chasing gambling losses and seeking to earn income. This study has confirmed many of the risk associations presented in emerging COVID-19-related studies and past research on global economic crisis relating to gambling risk, mental health concerns and substance use. However, unlike many past studies, the present paper takes note of all of these elements holistically and provides incremental clarity on online gambling risk factors during the pandemic, specifically.