Adolescent betting on esports using cash and skins: Links with gaming, monetary gambling, and problematic gambling

Nerilee Hing; Lisa Lole; Alex M T Russell; Matthew Rockloff; Daniel L King; Matthew Browne; Philip Newall; Nancy Greer

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266571

Adolescent betting on esports using cash and skins: Links with gaming, monetary gambling, and problematic gambling

PLoS One. 2022 May 5;17(5):e0266571. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266571. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nerilee Hing¹, Lisa Lole¹, Alex M T Russell¹, Matthew Rockloff¹, Daniel L King², Matthew Browne¹, Philip Newall¹, Nancy Greer¹

Affiliations

¹ Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQ University, Bundaberg, QLD, Australia.
² College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Abstract

Adolescents can easily access esports betting sites and place bets using cash or skins. This descriptive cross-sectional study examined the characteristics of adolescent esports bettors and relationships between their esports betting, video gaming activities, monetary gambling participation, and at-risk/problem gambling. Two survey samples of Australians aged 12-17 years were recruited through advertisements (n = 841) and online panel providers (n = 826). In both samples, gender and parents' living situation did not differ by past-month esports cash and skin betting, but recent esports betting was associated with engaging in esports gaming activities such as playing and watching esports, and in monetary gambling activities. Past-month esports betting using cash and skins was significantly associated with at-risk/problem gambling. After controlling for recent monetary gambling, recent esports skin bettors were over 3 times more likely to meet criteria for at-risk/problem gambling. Esports betting using skins appears to pose risks for young people and is easily accessible through unlicensed operators.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Australia
Behavior, Addictive* / epidemiology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Gambling*
Humans
Sports*
Video Games*

Grants and funding

NH, AR, MR, MB, PN, NG and DK received grant funding to conduct this research (no grant number assigned). Funding for this study was provided by the NSW Government’s Responsible Gambling Fund, with support from the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling https://www.responsiblegambling.nsw.gov.au. The funders reviewed the survey instrument for this study but had no role in data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.