An Exploratory Study of Interrelationships Between Social Casino Gaming, Gambling, and Problem Gambling

Telephone interviews are largely neglected in the qualitative research literature and, when discussed, they are often depicted as a less attractive alternative to face-to-face interviewing. The absence of visual cues via telephone is thought to result in loss of contextual and nonverbal data and to compromise rapport, probing, and interpretation of responses. Yet, telephones may allow respondents to feel relaxed and able to disclose sensitive information, and evidence is lacking that they produce lower quality data. This apparent bias against telephone interviews contrasts with a growing interest in electronic qualitative interviews. Research is needed comparing these modalities, and examining their impact on data quality and their use for studying varying topics and populations. Such studies could contribute evidence-based guidelines for optimizing interview data. 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

This study provides the first analysis ever made of a representative national sample of Internet gamblers. Using participant data from the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey (n = 9,003 adults aged 16 years and over), all participants who had gambled online, bet online, and/or used a betting exchange in the last 12 months (n = 476) were compared with all other gamblers who had not gambled via the Internet. Overall, results showed a number of significant sociodemographic differences between Internet gamblers and non-Internet gamblers. When compared to non-Internet gamblers, Internet gamblers were more likely to be male, relatively young adults, single, well educated, and in professional/managerial employment. Further analysis of DSM-IV scores showed that the problem gambling prevalence rate was significantly higher among Internet gamblers than among non-Internet gamblers. Results suggest that the medium of the Internet may be more likely to contribute to problem gambling than gambling in offline environments.