Prevalance and associated factors of problematic gambling among sports bettors in jimma town betting center, south west Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background: -Problematic gambling is a silent epidemic that is ruining the mental health of many individuals with far-reaching consequences on mental health, economical and overall wellbeing. It is now an issue of growing concern in developing countries.Over the last three years sports betting have expanded rapidly in Ethiopiaandthere isscarcity of studies conducted on problematic gambling among sports bettors in our country as far as the researcher knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of problematic gambling among sport bettors in Jimma town betting center, south west Ethiopia,2021 Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of problematicgamblingamong sports bettors in Jimma town betting center, southwest Ethiopia,2021 Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed among consecutively selected 422 sports bettors. Problematic gambling wasassessed byusing South Oaks Gambling Screening tool. Data were collected using pre-tested interviewer-administered structured questionnaires. The collected data were coded and entered into EPI data Version 4.6 and exported to SPSS Version 26.0 for analysis. Descriptive results were presented by tables and graphs. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done and statistical significance and association was declared at P-values less than 0.05 with 95%CI. Result: A total of 414 participants were involved in the study with a response rate of 98.1%. The overall prevalence of problematic gambling among the study participants was 53.9%.Age between (25 to 31) years (AOR=4.89(1.42-16.87)),unemployed(AOR=3.56(1.99-6.41)),current alcohol use(AOR =3.89,95%CI (2.25-6.72)), positive attitude towards sports betting(AOR =2.57,95%CI (1.49-4.44)), easily availability of betting center (AOR= 2.23,95%CI (1.23-4.00)), accessibility of internet service (AOR=4.51,95%CI (1.84-11.06)), media advertising such as DSTV (AOR= 3.15,95%CI (1.78-5.56)) and social media such as Facebook/telegram use (AOR= 3.59,95%CI (1.46-8.83)) were found to significantly associated with problematic gambling. Conclusion and recommendation:The finding of this study showed that the prevalenceof problematic gambling among sports bettors was high. Age between (25 to 31) years old, unemployment, current alcohol use, positive attitude towards sports betting, easily availability of betting center, accessibility of internet service, media advertising such as Dstv and social media such as Facebook/telegramwere associated with problematic gambling. Promotion of mental health servicesfor sports bettors to prevent further development of problematic gamblingand identified contributing factors was recommended.