The effect of exclusion on subjective well-being indicators and problem gambling in Swiss casinos

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline measures of excluded and non-excluded gamblers’ characteristics (n = 346).

	Excluded (n = 87)	Non-excluded (n = 259)	p-values	% missing
Gender			0.040*	0.3
Male	80.2% (69)	67.8% (175)
Age			0.918	1.1
18–25	24.1% (21)	27.1% (69)
26–45	59.8% (52)	58.4% (149)
46–65	14.9% (13)	12.9% (33)
66 and above	1.1% (1)	1.6% (4)
Citizenship			0.682	11.3
Switzerland	67.5% (52)	70.9% (163)
Other	32.5% (25)	29.1% (67)
Debts due to gambling			<0.001*	6.9
Yes	21.5% (17)	3.7% (9)
SOGS-R			<0.001*	0.0
No problem (0)	8.0% (7)	45.9% (119)
Some gambling problems (1–4)	43.7% (38)	43.2% (112)
Severe gambling problems (≥5)	48.3% (42)	10.8% (28)
PHQ-4			0.144	4.4
Minimal (0–2)	22.4% (19)	30.5% (75)
Mild (3–5)	25.9% (22)	24.8% (61)
Moderate (6–8)	27.1% (23)	30.1% (74)
Severe (9–12)	24.7% (21)	14.6% (36)
Past-six-month gambling prevalence
Land based casino	80.5% (70)	85.7% (222)	0.318	0.0
Licensed online games	57.5% (50)	23.9% (62)	<0.001*	0.0
Online Swiss Lotto/sports betting	23.0% (20)	18.9% (49)	0.505	0.0
Land-based Lotto/sports betting	37.9% (33)	36.7% (95)	0.936	0.0
International online games	48.3% (42)	35.9% (93)	0.055	0.0
Others	46.0% (40)	42.5% (110)	0.656	0.0

All tests in this table were Chi-square tests unless the conditions were not met. In these cases, Fisher’s exact test was performed. *p < 0.05.

Table 2. Short-term-excluded gamblers` exclusion variants.

Gambler type	Survey			n
	1	2	3
Excluded	e	e	e	33
Short-term-excluded
	e	e	ne	5
	e	ne	e	6
	e	ne	ne	18
	ne	e	e	7
	ne	e	ne	11
	ne	ne	e	10
	Excluded between waves			19
Non-excluded	ne	ne	ne	133
Total				242

Note: ‘e’ and ‘ne’ denote ‘excluded’ and ‘not excluded’, respectively.

Table 3. Effect of the exclusion on well-being over time (n = 242).

Variable	Excluded gamblers (n = 33)			Short-term-excluded gamblers (n = 76)			Non-excluded gamblers (n = 133)			p-values
	T1	T2	T3	T1	T2	T3	T1	T2	T3	GT	SV	GT*SV
Mental health	5.3	3.8	3.3	6.8	6.1	6.8	4.7	4.8	4.8	<0.001	0.202	0.002
Well-being	11.8	15.0	15.0	12.7	13.7	13.4	15.5	14.6	14.6	0.010	0.700	<0.001
Life satisfaction	6.1	6.6	7.0	6.0	6.3	6.4	6.8	7.0	6.9	0.002	0.003	0.167
Satisfaction with life domains
Finances	3.8	4.8	4.9	5.9	6.2	6.1	6.3	6.4	6.5	<0.001	0.004	0.042
Relationships	7.0	6.5	6.8	6.0	6.4	6.2	6.9	7.2	7.2	0.002	0.230	0.281
Leisure-time	6.5	6.7	7.0	6.0	6.1	6.2	6.8	6.9	6.7	0.005	0.542	0.483
Housing	7.2	7.5	7.7	6.2	6.5	6.6	7.3	7.3	7.4	<0.001	0.047	0.458
Health	7.3	7.1	7.1	6.7	6.6	6.7	7.0	7.4	7.1	0.082	0.118	0.109
Occupation	6.9	6.7	6.8	5.9	6.0	6.2	6.6	6.6	6.7	0.021	0.454	0.899
Problem Gambling	5.0	3.6	2.8	2.6	2.4	2.2	1.3	1.3	1.3	<0.001	0.028	<0.001

Cells display means for each measure at the three time points of data collection. GT and SV denote gambler types (GT) and surveys (SV), respectively. The gambler types are excluded gamblers, non-excluded gamblers, and short-term excluded gamblers. The surveys distinguish between the first survey time point (T1), the second (T2), and the third (T3). Observations with missing values have been removed from the analysis. The indicators were evaluated using the following measures: Mental Health: PHQ-4; Well-being: WHO-Five Wellbeing Index; life satisfaction: Life Satisfaction-1 short scale; satisfaction with life domains: Swiss Household Panel; problem gambling: SOGS-R

Figure 1. The trajectory of mental health over time.

Figure 2. The trajectory of well-being over time.

Figure 3. The trajectory of satisfaction with finances over time.

Data availability statement

The dataset generated by the survey research and analyzed during the current study is available in the SWISSUbase repository, https://doi.org/10.48573/9fp4-fw62