Informe sobre adicciones comportamentales 2021: Juego con dinero, uso de videojuegos y uso compulsivo de internet

The Observatorio Español de las Drogas y las Adicciones and the Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas present a monographic analysis of gambling with money, compulsive internet use and possible video game disorder in Spain. The data come from the national EDADES survey (population aged 15 to 64, 2020 edition) and the ESTUDES survey (students aged 14 to 18, 2021 edition), both based on in-home or classroom questionnaires with national representation. The report notes that question comparability across editions is limited because the questions were adapted over time.

In 2020, 64.2% of the 15 to 64 population gambled with money in the last year, and 6.7% gambled online, up from 3.5% in 2018. Among students aged 14 to 18 in 2021, 20.1% gambled with money online and/or in person, and 85.1% played video games. The report links the decline in student gambling in 2021 to restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report estimates that 1.6% of the 15 to 64 population showed possible problem gambling and 0.6% possible gambling disorder, based on the DSM-V scale. Among students, 3.4% were candidates for possible problem gambling according to the Lie/Bet scale, and 7.1% showed a possible video game disorder on the DSM-V-based scale. Possible compulsive internet use reached 23.5% among students in 2021, compared with 3.7% of the adult population in 2020.