Situational features of smartphone betting are linked to sports betting harm: An ecological momentary assessment study.

Background and aims: Smartphones extend the situational characteristics of sports betting beyond those available with land-based and computer platforms. This study examined 1) the role of situational features and betting platforms in harmful betting behaviours and short-term betting harm, and 2) whether people with more gambling problems have preferred situational features, engage more in harmful betting behaviours, and experience more severe short-term betting harm. Methods: An ecological momentary assessment analysed 1,378 betting sessions on sports, esports or daily fantasy sports, reported by 267 respondents (18-29 years; 50.9% male) over 10 weeks. Results: Factor analysis revealed five situational features of betting sessions: 1) quick, easy access from home, 2) ability to bet anywhere anytime, 3) privacy while betting, 4) greater access to promotions and betting options, and 5) ability to use electronic financial transactions. Regression models underpinned the analyses. Greater short-term betting harm was significantly associated with the ability to bet anywhere anytime, privacy when betting, and greater access to promotions and betting options. Betting sessions when these features were prioritised were more likely to involve impulsive betting, use of betting inducements, and betting with more operators. Respondents with more gambling problems were more likely to prioritise privacy and the ability to bet anywhere anytime; and to bet on in-game events, use promotional inducements, bet with more operators, and report greater betting harm. Discussion and conclusions: Certain situational features of sports betting are empirically associated with engagement and subsequent harm. Only smartphone betting combines all three features associated with betting harm.

Direct imitation or indirect reference?-research on peer effects of enterprises' green innovation.

This paper takes the China's A-share listed companies in the heavy pollution industry from 2010 to 2021 as the research sample and constructs a corresponding model to explore the existence, heterogeneity, and economic consequences of peer effect of green innovation. The results show that the enterprises' green innovation not only has strategic behaviors of direct imitation, but also receives the environmental information disclosed by peer enterprises to correct their own decision-making; that is, there are two types of peer effects: imitation and reference. At the same time, the enterprises tend to imitate and learn from large-scale and high-quality enterprises with high governance level while making decisions on green innovation. External situational characteristics can moderate the peer effects of green innovation. The strengthening of intellectual property protection and the improvement of market competition will promote mutual learning and reference among enterprises, and the improvement of the institutional environment will inhibit the interaction of enterprises. Further analysis shows that the peer effect of imitation amplifies the promoting effect of green innovation on business performance, while the peer effect of reference does not show obvious spillover characteristics. The above analysis is helpful to reveal the more real decision-making motivation and potential driving mechanism for enterprises to take green innovation actions and provides new ideas and experience for green innovation to serve the development of entity enterprises.

Gambling products and their risk potential for gambling disorder.

Gambling brings excitement, which is a part of entertainment, but also a basis of operant conditioning, which, in conjunction with other biological and psychological factors, leads to the loss of control over the player's behaviour. This gambling disorder (problem gambling) is characterized by a high intensity and episodic character of gambling and a high amount of staked money, with negative consequences to players and their close ones. Problem gamblers have a high rate of psychiatric comorbidity, as well as suicide. Various gambling products pose a different risk of problem gambling. The game's risk is determined by the arousal for players, the social nature of the game, or the degree of skill required for gambling. It is an effect of so-called structural and situational characteristics, such as amount and variability of bets, structure and probability of win, jackpot, game speed, near wins, audio and visual effects, etc. The game risk increases also with its accessibility or with substance use while playing. In the Czech Republic, there is a high availability of electronic gaming machines (EGM) compared to the neighbouring countries; the availability of on-line games has increased dramatically in recent years. There is also an observed increase in participation in on-line gambling, not just odds and live betting, but also technical games or casino games as reported in population surveys. Estimated up to 5.7% of the adult population is at risk of problem gambling (approx. 510 thousand persons), of which 1.2-1.4% are at a high risk (approx. 80-120 thousand persons). EGMs represent the highest risk, but also casino or on-line games including odds betting, especially live betting shows high risk of problem gambling. Most of the problem gamblers are men; especially young men are highly vulnerable. Although the new Gambling Act has introduced a number of new preventive measures since 2017 according to basic types of games, the assessment of the risk potential of particular gambling products is not a part of their licensing. This contributes to increasing availability of high-risk games, especially on-line.

A Comparison of Online Versus Offline Gambling Harm in Portuguese Pathological Gamblers: An Empirical Study.

Over the past decade, gambling has become a very popular activity across Europe including the growth of Internet gambling. Portugal is one of the few European countries where little research has been carried out. Given the lack of studies, a Portuguese sample (N = 1,599) was surveyed concerning their online and offline gambling habits. More specifically, the aim of this study was to identify and compare from the total sample, online pathological gamblers (PGON) (n = 171) and offline pathological gamblers' (PGOF) (n = 171) characteristics, and eventual risk factors for the development of problem gambling. Results demonstrated that PGON had different profiles compared to PGOF, although there were also similarities. Situational characteristics were much more significant for PGON than PGOF (e.g., availability, accessibility, affordability), but PGOF had higher scores than PGON on factors concerning individual characteristics (e.g., intensity of feelings while gambling, depression, suicidal ideation, etc.). Findings also showed differences concerning attitudes toward responsible gambling measures. The fact that situational characteristics are more attractive to online gamblers confirms differences between PGON and PGOF and suggests that this preferred attractiveness may enhance problem gambling potential. Further research is needed to better understand the interaction between Internet situational characteristics and the individual characteristics of gamblers, as well as the profile of the growing population of gamblers that uses both online and offline modes to gamble.