A team of freelancers in four countries investigated the impact of imposed isolation and a lack of social support on online gamblers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Led by Sara Moraca, the team interviewed gambling addicts, online gambling operators, psychologists, researchers, legal experts and data scientists. Their conclusion: governments are doing too little to tackle an under-reported crisis of addiction, especially when it comes to regulation and control of harmful advertising.
The pandemic has triggered a British online gambling crisis – Data collected from the Gambling Commission showed that in March, online virtual sports betting increased by 88 per cent and online poker by 53 per cent compared to the same month in 2019.https://t.co/Zve33Obi39
— Justice4Gamblers (@FairandOpen) December 5, 2020
After publication, the Italian Red Cross asked the team to host two webinars discussing its findings on online gambling across Europe for volunteers who work with addicts.
Stock photo by Erik Lucatero on Unsplash