Main objective:

Summary:

The study “Online gambling in the post-pandemic context. El paso de las apuestas deportivas a los juegos de azar” (Online gambling in the post-pandemic context. The shift from sports betting to gambling), funded by the call for proposals of the National Drug Plan Confiscated Assets Fund (FONDO) 2020, is divided into four blocks covering all the objectives of this study programme. The results analyse the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on sports betting and gambling. The results provide an insight into the phenomenon under study, which should be useful for improving prevention programmes and therapeutic dynamics. First, we present the impact of Covid-19 on gambling and betting patterns in Spain, with particular attention to the gender dimension. We also analyse the synergies between Spanish trends and those of other countries. Spanish gamblers moved from the major sports markets to the minority markets that remained open during the pandemic, and also to other products, especially poker. The transitions were more pronounced in the strategic and merchant profiles. We offer a perspective on how the prevention and welfare scenarios of behavioural addictions were affected by the arrival of the pandemic. This allows us to learn about the breaches and the responses they offered. We will analyse the new regulations on gambling and betting in the Spanish context. We will include an assessment from key stakeholders such as the heads of associations for those affected, therapists, prevention experts and people seeking treatment for pathological gambling. We also analyse how the gambling industry is organised as an interest group to influence public administrations. We present an analysis of loot boxes in the Spanish context. We will see how this type of mechanism has proliferated in video games and how some authors suggest that it can facilitate the transition to pure gambling games. We focus on the environmental prevention strategies that are effective in preventing pathological gambling. The results will show to what extent the pandemic has changed the prevention and care scenario and which structural strategies are effective in the field of behavioural addictions. The methodology used to achieve these objectives is qualitative. We used three techniques: documentary analysis, participant observation (online and offline), individual interviews with active gamblers, informants, people affected by gambling disorders and different professional profiles.

Keywords: