Motivation to gamble, boredom proneness and the severity of gambling problems as predictors of online gambling beginning during the COVID-19 pandemics among gamblers: Results of a longitudinal study in Poland

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to look for predictors of gamblers' engaging in online gambling during the COVID-19 epidemic. Motivation to gamble, boredom proneness and the severity of gambling problems were treated as potential predictors. Polish offline gamblers (N = 610) were studied employing an online survey. Changes in online and offline gambling trajectory during the epidemic and the severity of gambling problems were assessed in 3 waves of the longitudinal study. Gamblers who started playing online during the outbreak had a lower coping, enhancement, and social motivation to gamble as well as lower severity of gambling problems than pre-pandemic online gamblers. However, they were more prone to boredom and were driven by higher financial and social gambling motives than players who had not started playing online during the epidemic.