Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29362900›Full record

ArticleThe European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care2018

The effect of online gambling on gambling problems and resulting economic health costs in Germany.

Tobias Effertz, Anja Bischof, Hans-Jürgen Rumpf, Christian Meyer, Ulrich John

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Article in The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
10.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.

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  4. Prevalence of gambling behavior and risk for gambling disorder in Austria.Neuropsychiatrie : Klinik, Diagnostik, Therapie und Rehabilitation : Organ der Gesellschaft Osterreichischer Nervenarzte und Psychiater · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Tobias EffertzHamburg Business School, University of Hamburg, Max Brauer Allee 60, 22765, Hamburg, Germany. effertz@uni-hamburg.de.
Anja BischofDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538, Lübeck, Germany.
Hans-Jürgen RumpfDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23538, Lübeck, Germany.
Christian MeyerInstitute of Social Medicine and Prevention, University Medicine Greifswald, Walther-Rathenau-Straße 48, 17475, Greifswald, Germany.
Ulrich JohnInstitute of Social Medicine and Prevention, University Medicine Greifswald, Walther-Rathenau-Straße 48, 17475, Greifswald, Germany.
Universitätsmedizin Greifswald · DEUniversity of Lübeck · DEUniversität Hamburg · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Problematic and pathological gambling have emerged as substantial problems in many countries. One potential accelerating factor for this phenomenon during recent years is the Internet, which offers different kinds of games and online applications for gambling that are faster, more attractive due to a variety of design and marketing options, less costly and potentially more addictive than terrestrial gambling opportunities. However, the contributing role of the Internet for problematic gambling has not been analyzed sufficiently so far and remains inconclusive. The current study is based on a representative sample with 15,023 individuals from Germany. With a new concept of assessing online gambling with its relative fraction of total gambling activities and a control-function approach to account for possible endogeneity of online gambling, we estimate the impact of online gambling on gambling behavior while additionally controlling for a rich set of important covariates, like education, employment situation and family status. The results show that, on average, replacing 10% of offline gambling with online gambling increases the likelihood of being a problematic gambler by 8.8-12.6%. This increase is equivalent to 139,322 problematic gamblers and 27.24 million € per year of additional expenditures in the German health sector. Our findings underpin the necessity to keep online gambling restricted to prevent further developments of problematic and pathological gambling in Germany.

Indexed as

GamblingHealth Care CostsInternetBehavior, AddictiveGermanyHumansGambling prevalenceGermanyMedical costs of gamblingOnline gamblingPAGE-study

Identifiers

PMID29362900
OpenAlexW2788604783

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.