Gambling, like many other leisure activities, has been greatly affected by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study investigated the behavior of a sample of online casino gamblers before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in March 2020. The authors were given access to behavioral tracking data of a representative sample of 133,286 online casino gamblers by a large European online gambling operator with several online casino Swedish licenses. Online casino gambling activity utilizing daily cross-sectional data was examined over a 5-month period from January 1 to May 31 (2020). Results indicated that the (i) number of active online casino gamblers significantly increased over time, (ii) mean average amount of money bet by online casino gamblers daily significantly decreased over time, (iii) mean average daily bet by online casino gamblers at both the 90th and 99th percentiles significantly decreased over time, and (iv) mean average daily bet by online casino gamblers at the 10th and 25th percentiles significantly increased over time. The analysis also indicated that the number of high-risk players significantly decreased during the 5-month study period. While many different groups have claimed that gambling and problem gambling would increase during the pandemic due to more time being spent at home, evidence from the present study suggests that this is not the case because gambling intensity decreased, at least among Swedish gamblers.

与许多其他休闲活动一样，赌博受到 2019 年新型冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 大流行的极大影响。本研究调查了 2020 年 3 月宣布 COVID-19 大流行之前和之后的在线赌场赌徒样本的行为。作者获得了大型欧洲在线赌场 133,286 名在线赌场赌徒的代表性样本的行为跟踪数据拥有多个在线赌场瑞典执照的赌博运营商。在 1 月 1 日至 5 月 31 日（2020 年 1 月 1 日至 5 月 31 日）的 5 个月期间内，对使用每日横截面数据的在线赌场赌博活动进行了检查。结果表明，（i）活跃在线赌场赌徒的数量随着时间的推移显着增加，（ii）在线赌场赌徒每天的平均投注金额随着时间的推移而显着下降，(iii) 在线赌场赌徒在第 90 和第 99 个百分位的平均每日下注随着时间的推移显着下降，并且 (iv) 在线赌场赌徒在第 10 和第 25 个百分位的平均每日赌注随着时间的推移显着增加。分析还表明，在为期 5 个月的研究期间，高风险参与者的数量显着减少。尽管许多不同的团体声称，由于在家度过更多时间，在大流行期间赌博和问题赌博会增加，但本研究的证据表明情况并非如此，因为赌博强度降低了，至少在瑞典赌徒中是这样。(iv) 在线赌场赌徒在第 10 和第 25 个百分位的平均每日赌注随着时间的推移显着增加。分析还表明，在为期 5 个月的研究期间，高风险参与者的数量显着减少。尽管许多不同的团体声称，由于在家度过更多时间，在大流行期间赌博和问题赌博会增加，但本研究的证据表明情况并非如此，因为赌博强度降低了，至少在瑞典赌徒中是这样。(iv) 在线赌场赌徒在第 10 和第 25 个百分位的平均每日赌注随着时间的推移显着增加。分析还表明，在为期 5 个月的研究期间，高风险参与者的数量显着减少。尽管许多不同的团体声称，由于在家度过更多时间，在大流行期间赌博和问题赌博会增加，但本研究的证据表明情况并非如此，因为赌博强度降低了，至少在瑞典赌徒中是这样。