Expansion of Ontario’s online gambling market was associated with substantial increases in helpline contacts pertaining to gambling-related problems
Expansion of Ontario’s online gambling market was associated with substantial increases in helpline contacts pertaining to gambling-related problems
Help-seeking for gambling problems following expansion of Ontario’s online gambling market and legalization of single-event sports betting
Background: Online gambling and sports betting have recently been legalized and expanded in North America. We aimed to evaluate long-term changes in the frequency of gambling-related helpline contacts...
Both the launch of the government-operated PlayOLG platform in 2015 and the introduction of a competitive private online gambling market in 2022 were followed by large increases in contacts [to ConnexOntario]. These findings suggest large increases in problematic gambling, changes in help-seeking for gambling, or both.
We compared changes in gambling-related contacts to total contact volume for mental health and addictions. We used total contact volume to control for changes in population-level mental health or awareness of ConnexOntario.
As DrNateH on reddit said, Ford's "agenda is to ultimately turn Ontario into Las Vegas."