Brief Report: The Rise of Online Betting in Ontario

Nigel E Turner; Lindsay Sinclair; Flora I Matheson

doi:10.1007/s10899-023-10268-1

Brief Report: The Rise of Online Betting in Ontario

J Gambl Stud. 2023 Dec 13. doi: 10.1007/s10899-023-10268-1. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nigel E Turner^{1

2}, Lindsay Sinclair^{3

4}, Flora I Matheson^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, and Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Ursula Franklin Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada. nigel.turner@camh.ca.
² Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College Street, 6th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M7, Canada. nigel.turner@camh.ca.
³ Problem Gambling and Technology Use Treatment Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

PMID: 38087132
DOI: 10.1007/s10899-023-10268-1

Abstract

In this paper we examine the nature of calls for the Ontario Problem Gambling Helpline from June 2021 to Jan 2023 to determine if the increased marketing of online and sports gambling has changed the nature of calls to the helpline. An interrupted time series model comparing the monthly calls before and after the expansion of online gambling and advertising (April 2023), found a significant effect. Calls related to the other games examined did not have a significant interrupted time series effect of from the expansion and advertising of online gambling. The results of this analysis clearly indicate an association between the expansion of legalized gambling and gambling advertising with the number of people who call the helpline for problem related to online gambling.

Keywords: Crisis calls; Helpline data; Online gambling; Sports gambling; Time series analysis.