Online Gambling is a digital activity where users place bets using real money through computers. This activity is legal in many countries and has become very popular in recent years. It is important to remember that if you think someone you know is showing signs of an addiction to gambling, they need professional help. The best thing you can do is to talk to them in a non-judgemental way and offer support. If you share finances with a person who has an addiction, it’s a good idea to talk with them about separating your bank accounts.
A literature review was carried out in the PubMed, PsychInfo and Scopus databases to find studies focusing on the risk factors associated with online gambling and the protective ones. The literature was analysed in terms of the PICO research model (Population Intervention Comparison Outcome) and the results concerning risk and protective factors were interpreted according to two different comparisons: online nonproblematic versus problem gamblers and online problematic versus offline nonproblematic gamblers.
In general, the papers found that personality traits are strongly associated with online gambling; high impulsivity is the most common one and is significantly more likely to be present in people who gamble online than in those who don’t. Consumption of alcohol and other drugs is also a relevant factor. Other variables influencing behaviour, such as family context and life situation, have received scarce attention. In particular, the university context seems to be a significant predictor of not only internet gambling but also of its problematic nature (Mihaylova et al., 2013).