Sarah Tipping is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow. She works within the NIHR Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Addictions and is a member of Gambling Research Glasgow. Her work uses quantitative research methods and advanced statistical analysis to explore the drivers and mechanisms of gambling behaviour, gambling addiction and gambling harms, with a specific focus on the relationship between gambling and a range of health and wellbeing outcomes, including the role of gambling in suicide.

Abstract

Assessing risk factors for gambling-related suicidal ideation: Evidence from people who regularly bet on sports

Although the relationship between gambling and suicide risk has received increased research attention in recent years, our understanding of associations between suicidality and gambling behaviours among different types of gamblers remains limited. Using longitudinal data from people who gamble regularly on sports, we aimed to examine the relationship between engagement in different gambling formats and subsequent suicidality. This study used existing data from a longitudinal survey of regular sports bettors which assessed gambling behaviours and suicidal ideation at two time points: June 2020 (W1, n= 3927); November 2020 (W2, n=3093). Latent Class Analysis identified 5 distinct groups of participant: Class-1: in-person sports betting only; Class-2: online sports betting only; Class-3: both in-person and online sports betting; Class-4: Online all activities and Class-5: Online and in-person: all activities. Adjusted regression analyses found that Class-5 had higher levels of suicidal ideation (OR: 3.42 to 4.51) and suicide attempts at W2 (OR: 18.78 to 66.09) than other classes. The insight from this study improves our understanding of the relationship between gambling and suicidality among those who gamble regularly, showing that those who bet regularly on sports but also gamble on other activities like land-based and online slot have higher risk of subsequent suicidality.