The Convergence of Simulated Gambling, Monetary Gambling and Gambling Harm: An integrative literature review of stimulus and suppression pathways

This research presents a literature review on the convergence of simulated gambling, monetary gambling and gambling harm. It also reviews conceptual and empirical evidence for risk and protective factors for gambling harm that might arise from simulated gambling and suggests strategies to help reduce this harm. The study extracted data from academic and peer-reviewed grey literature sources. In total, 181 articles were included in the review.

The study provides a comprehensive synthesis of conceptual and empirical research on simulated gambling and its links with gambling harm. It confirms there is strong and consistent evidence about the concurrence of simulated gambling, monetary gambling and problem gambling, although more research is needed to assess migration pathways (eg, migrating from simulated gambling to monetary gambling).

The study also identifies numerous strategies that have the potential to drive and significantly strengthen public health approaches to mitigate gambling harm linked to simulated gambling. In turn, these strategies can help to address a public health issue that is growing, threatens the wellbeing of the next generation of gamblers, and increases health disparities for priority groups in Aotearoa New Zealand, including Māori, Pacific peoples, some Asian communities and young people/rangatahi.

Overall, the study concludes that research on simulated gambling is still in its infancy and that prevents firm conclusions to be drawn about its role in migration towards or away from monetary gambling and gambling harm. This limits the specificity of recommended strategies to advance protective strategies and reduce risk factors to help ameliorate this harm.