Pay to Play or Pay to Lose? The Impact of In-game Spending in Digital Games on Gambling Problems

During the mid-2010s, microtransactions within digital games became more common, raising concerns that the gambling-like features in these games would contribute to increases in gambling problems. However, studies on the topic have been mostly cross-sectional. To fill this gap, this study uses longitudinal nationwide survey data collected from 949 adult Finnish participants every six months from the spring of 2021 to the fall of 2024 to investigate the impact of microtransactions on gambling problems-measured using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)-over time. Gambling participation, mental health issues, and alcohol use were used as control variables, and age and gender were used as background variables. The results showed that although microtransactions had significant positive fixed and random effects on gambling problems, the effects disappeared when gambling participation was added to the models. Therefore, the effect of microtransactions on gambling problems may only be indirect. This implies that the main regulatory focus should be on actual gambling participation, whether or not it is encouraged by the purchasable content in some digital games.