Online gambling behavior before and during the COVID-10 pandemic
Using data from a major European online operator, authors Michael Auer, Doris Malischnig and Mark D. Griffiths have examined the gambling behavior of 5396 sports betting customers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To be included in the study, betting customers had to have placed at least one bet per month in at least 5 of the last 10 calendar weeks before 7 March 2020.
The results of the study show that sports betting customers of this online operator did not switch to playing more online casino games during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, there was even a statistically significant decrease in online gambling participation; this was particularly evident in the group of those who bet in 5 out of 10 months prior to the lockdown. The study could therefore not find any evidence that online sports betting customers played more online casino games during the Corona crisis. Rather, a decline in the online casino sector among sports betting customers was also noted.
Find the entire study here: Study: Gambling before and during the COVID-19 pandemie
(Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-020-00327-8#citeas)