Harm Reduction Journal is calling for submissions to our Collection on Harm reduction online and for online gambling. With more aspects of our lives taking place on mobile devices connected to the internet, online gambling has increased considerably over the past decade. This has resulted in the emergence of new gambling activities, difficult-to-regulate gambling products, and unlimited access through personal devices. Governments, researchers and service providers globally are now faced with unprecedented challenges to address gambling harm in the rapidly changing digital environment. Better understanding of the negative consequences of online gambling is necessary to guide global efforts to reduce gambling harm, including regulation and public health interventions.
In addition to the changing regulatory environment, online gambling yields vast amounts of digital data that constitutes considerable commercial value, but can be also harnessed for innovative ways to reduce gambling harm. More effective harm reduction can benefit from the current technology including comprehensive online harm reduction approaches and tools to monitor play patterns. Such approaches may be particularly impactful for Indigenous groups that are historically more geographically isolated and economically marginalized. The online environment also enables new forms of self-help and therapeutic interventions with significant developments during COVID-19 related social restrictions.
Another emerging area of research and policy regarding online gambling are gambling-like features in video games. This convergence of gambling and gaming involves gaming elements in gambling, games incorporating gambling elements, gambling on games, free simulated online gambling, and social media games and gambling. Gambling-like features in video games are of particular concern for parents and children, as underaged players are the main market and often aggressively targeted by the gambling industry. Regulating and controlling the gambling industry, its affiliates and beneficiaries effectively also in the online arena is thus crucial in gambling harm reduction.
We invite submissions around but not limited to the following themes:
- Experiences and types of online gambling harm
- Harm minimization tools specifically targeting online gambling
- The collection and use of online gambling data
- Gambling regulation as a harm reduction tool
- Online gambling therapy and self-help platforms on the Internet
- Harm reduction with a focus on Indigenous and minority groups
- Convergence of gambling and gaming
