Mental Health and Online Gambling in Adolescents

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month, which is a time to talk openly about gambling, the risks that come with it, and the resources available to help people make safer choices.

Gambling is something many people enjoy, but for some, it can become harmful, especially as online options continue to increase across Ontario.

Canadian Adolescents At Risk of Harm Due To Online Gambling
Online gambling among youth is a growing public health concern, particularly as digital platforms make gambling more accessible than ever, with nearly one in four young people who gamble online experiencing high levels of gambling-related harm, including stress, financial worries, and impacts on school or work.

Understanding whether mental health challenges increase the risk of later online gambling is essential for designing effective prevention, early intervention, and youth protection strategies.

New COMPASS Study
A new Canadian study using data from Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol, Smoking, and Sedentary behaviour (COMPASS), and co-authored by PHO researchers, explores whether mental health challenges in teenagers make them more likely to start gambling online later on. It is among the first studies in Canada to show that poorer mental health, especially higher levels of depressive symptoms can come before adolescents begin engaging in online gambling.

Researchers followed nearly 28,000 Canadian high school students between 2016-2019 across four provinces (Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec) to examine whether mental health predicted engagement in online gambling one year later. They also explored the potential chronological relationships between mental health and gambling behaviours.

Key Findings
The findings suggest that some youth may turn to online gambling to as a way of coping with negative emotional states, highlighting the connection between mental health and addictive or risk-related behaviours.

Overall, self-reported past-month online gambling was relatively uncommon among adolescents, reported by about 2–2.5% of students across study years, and participation in gambling was substantially higher among males than females. These estimates could be low however, due to the stigma that exists around gambling.

After accounting for demographics and prior gambling behaviour, students with high depressive symptoms were 58% more likely to report online gambling one year later compared to those with low symptoms.

While anxiety symptoms and emotional dysregulation were linked to future online gambling when examined separately, only depressive symptoms remained significant when all mental health factors were considered together. Psychosocial well-being was not associated with later gambling behaviour.

Implications For Prevention
The authors suggest that screening for depressive symptoms in school or community settings could help identify youth who may be at higher risk of online gambling. Integrating gambling prevention into broader mental health promotion and early intervention efforts may be more effective than addressing gambling in isolation.

As online gambling environments continue to evolve, especially gambling-like features in video games and social media, these findings underscore the importance of early mental health informed prevention strategies to support adolescent well-being.

On June 10, Public Health Ontario will be hosting a webinar on online gambling among youth in Ontario, keep an eye on our Events webpage for details, coming soon.

Helpful Tools for Safer Play
Gambling Guidelines Interactive Gambling Risk Assessment Tool helps people check their personal level of gambling risk and offers practical suggestions based on the Lower-Risk Gambling Guidelines.

Need Support?
If you’re concerned about gambling, your own or someone else’s, help is available through local mental health services, primary care providers, and Ontario’s problem-gambling helplines like, ConnexOntario and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Reaching out early can make a big difference.