Overseas Internet poker and problem gambling in Finland 2007: A secondary data analysis of a Finnish population survey

AIMS - Internet gambling has been associated with increased risk of problem gambling. In this study different clusters of gambling activities and behavioral measures of gambling were used in analyses, which aimed at investigating prevalence of problem gambling in Internet poker gamblers and in other gamblers. DATA AND METHODS - The study consisted of secondary analyses of a Finnish population data set collected in 2007 (telephone survey, reaching 5,008 Finns aged 15 years and over). Bivariate statistics and logistic regression models were used in the analyses. RESULTS - When only age and sex were added to logistic regressions, overseas Internet poker (IP) gamblers were almost three times more likely to be problem gamblers than other gamblers. However, when also behavioral measures of gambling were added to equations, no difference in problem gambling between IP and other gambling was found. In the slot machine (SM) cluster an opposite phenomena occurred: when behavioral variables were added to analyses, subjects in SM cluster were more likely to be problem gamblers than other gamblers. When IP and SM were compared in the same multivariate analysis, subjects in both of these gambling clusters were more likely to be problem gamblers than other gamblers. CONCLUSIONS - The present study shows the importance of behavioral measures in gambling research. The level of involvement in gambling should be one of the primary interests in studies and interventions.