Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on playing frequency in response to sort of playing exercise (n = 3,232). Credit score: Hurt Discount Journal (2025). DOI: 10.1186/s12954-025-01265-1
The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown modified nearly each side of every day life, together with playing habits. With no casinos, bingo halls, sports activities betting and even lottery tickets, an unprecedented variety of Quebecers turned to on-line playing, many for the primary time.
A brand new examine led by Concordia researchers reveals that between 15% and 20% of Quebecers gambled on-line in 2021, with greater than 5% attempting it for the primary time. About 15% of Quebecers reported playing on-line each earlier than and through the pandemic. Only one.4% reported stopping playing altogether.
The findings are based mostly on a inhabitants survey of greater than 4,500 residents of the province. Ninety-six people have been chosen as consultant of the inhabitants for in-depth semi-structured interviews about their playing experiences through the first 12 months of the lockdown. The examine was revealed within the Hurt Discount Journal.
“Between 2018 and 2021, online gambling almost tripled in scope in Quebec,” says Sylvia Kairouz, a professor within the Division of Sociology and Anthropology and the examine’s lead writer.
“For some, it was a compensatory strategy for being stuck at home and not being able to participate in other activities. But most of the gamblers were steady, who had gambled before and during the pandemic. Some increased their gambling, reporting that they diversified their activities or spent more money.”
She notes that some respondents who give up playing altogether mentioned they might doubtless not have been in a position to cease if venues like casinos had remained open.
“This suggests that accessibility and the availability of gambling is an important factor for some people.”
Loneliness and tedium are key drivers
Two-thirds of the brand new wave of on-line gamblers have been males, and sometimes younger adults: 20% have been aged between 18 and 34, and 40% have been between 35 and 54. Males between their late 20s and early 40s have been most definitely to start out or enhance their on-line playing habits through the pandemic.
Respondents cited a number of totally different causes for his or her surge in playing exercise. The most typical was the dearth of alternate options, as land-based venues have been shuttered. Boredom, isolation and rest or stress reduction have been additionally necessary. The lure of simple cash moreover attracted some gamblers, particularly those that had reported lack of earnings because of the lockdown.
Kairouz factors out that off-line playing on the whole had been declining earlier than the pandemic, whereas on-line playing has been modestly however steadily on the rise. That modified with the lockdown, particularly when sports activities betting was legalized in August 2021.
Surprisingly, the researchers additionally discovered that day buying and selling exploded through the pandemic’s first 12 months. The apply of rapidly shopping for and promoting inventory for small however speedy earnings was discovered to share some traits with playing—specifically risk-taking, considering on one’s ft and potential for quick monetary rewards.
“The day traders we interviewed were having fun with it,” Kairouz says. “They were building these spreadsheets and gathering information and taking it very seriously. They felt they were trying to really understand the system and have control over it. But like gambling, it doesn’t usually work.”
Little oversight, extra promoting
Kairouz notes that these behavior adjustments offered some probably vital challenges to public coverage and well being advocates. On-line playing is available in any respect hours, throughout all platforms, the place it’s extensively marketed. Additionally it is minimally regulated. Between 2020 and 2021, Espacejeux.com, Loto-Québec’s on-line playing platform, reported a 171% leap in income, together with a 72% rise in individuals requesting self-exclusion.
“In terms of prevention, the biggest challenge is a lack of regulation; the biggest risk is the advertisement this ecosystem is built on,” Kairouz says. “We banned advertising for tobacco and cannabis, so why do we allow the gambling industry to have this freedom?”
Extra info:
Sylvia Kairouz et al, A portrait of on-line playing: a take a look at a change amid a pandemic, Hurt Discount Journal (2025). DOI: 10.1186/s12954-025-01265-1
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Concordia College
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Quebecers’ playing habits shifted dramatically through the pandemic, analysis exhibits (2025, October 8)
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