A Scoping Study of the Structural and Situational Characteristics of Internet Gambling

Abstract

Internet gambling has risen greatly in recent years, yet there has been very little published research concerning the particular structural and situational characteristics of internet gambling and how these may impact on gambling behaviour and problem gambling. This study develops a comprehensive list of all the structural and situational characteristics of internet gambling and identifies those which may be more problematic for internet gambling compared with offline gambling. A scoping study was undertaken to gather evidence from a wide range of sources, including a Delphi review process among a panel of eight experts to reach consensus on the assessment rating given to each characteristic. Results show that internet gambling has a number of unique structural and situational characteristics compared to offline gambling and it would appear that a number of characteristics may be more problematic for internet gamblers compared to offline equivalents.