Background

The impact of COVID-19 on mental health is tremendous. Since the beginning of the pandemic, several actors have raised concerns about the impact of the pandemic on gambling. Many actors fear a switch to online gambling in the context of the closure of many land-based gambling activities due to the restrictions imposed by public health authorities, such as physical distancing and lockdowns. This switch is worrisome because online gambling is considered a high-risk game. In that context, we need to know more about the impacts of the pandemic on gambling. This scoping review aims to summarize the literature that addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on gambling. To our knowledge, this is the first review to focus on this subject.

Methods

An electronic literature search involving a strategy using keywords related to COVID-19 and gambling was conducted using MEDLINE, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Social Works Abstract, and Socio Index databases on February 25th 2021. This search was combined with a manual search in Google Scholar. To be included, studies had to discuss gambling and COVID-19 as a primary theme, be written in English, and be published in a peer-reviewed journal. After collecting the information, we collated, summarized, and reported the results using narrative synthesis.

Results

The search identified 181 articles. After the removal of duplicates and screening, 24 full-text articles were reviewed and included in this study: 14 original articles, 8 commentaries or editorials, and 2 protocols. Contrary to expectations, preliminary evidence suggested that gambling behavior often either decreased or stayed the same for most gamblers during the pandemic. However, for the minority who showed increased gambling behavior, there was frequently an association with problem gambling.

Conclusion

The available literature on COVID-19 and gambling is limited and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gambling behavior and gambling problems is still unclear. Therefore, there is a need for more research on this topic, both qualitative and mixed methods studies, to better understand the impact of the pandemic on gambling. Considering the results, we need to be careful, particularly with problem gamblers and other subgroups of the population who seem to be more vulnerable to increased gambling habits during this pandemic period.

中文翻译：

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赌博和 COVID-19 大流行：范围界定审查

背景

COVID-19 对心理健康的影响是巨大的。自大流行开始以来，一些参与者对大流行对赌博的影响表示担忧。许多参与者担心，由于公共卫生当局施加的限制（例如身体距离和封锁），许多陆上赌博活动已关闭，因此他们会转向在线赌博。这种转变令人担忧，因为在线赌博被认为是一种高风险游戏。在这种情况下，我们需要更多地了解大流行对赌博的影响。本范围界定审查旨在总结解决 COVID-19 大流行对赌博影响的文献。据我们所知，这是第一个关注这个主题的评论。

方法

2021 年 2 月 25 日，使用 MEDLINE、Academic Search Complete、CINAHL、PsychINFO、Social Works Abstract 和 Socio Index 数据库进行了涉及使用与 COVID-19 和赌博相关的关键字的策略的电子文献检索。该检索与手动检索相结合在谷歌学术中。要纳入，研究必须以讨论赌博和 COVID-19 作为主要主题，用英语撰写，并发表在同行评审的期刊上。收集信息后，我们使用叙事综合法整理、总结和报告结果。

结果

搜索确定了 181 篇文章。去除重复和筛选后，共审查了 24 篇全文文章并将其纳入本研究：14 篇原创文章、8 篇评论或社论和 2 篇协议。与预期相反，初步证据表明，在大流行期间，大多数赌徒的赌博行为通常会减少或保持不变。然而，对于赌博行为增加的少数人来说，经常与问题赌博有关。

结论

关于 COVID-19 和赌博的现有文献有限，COVID-19 大流行对赌博行为和赌博问题的影响仍不清楚。因此，需要对这一主题进行更多研究，包括定性和混合方法研究，以更好地了解大流行对赌博的影响。考虑到结果，我们需要小心谨慎，尤其是问题赌徒和其他人口亚群，他们在大流行期间似乎更容易染上赌博习惯。