Testing the gateway hypothesis between online gambling and gaming disorder through network analysis: a preliminary study

Researchers have argued in favour of potential convergence between gambling and gaming since the early 90s, giving rise to the so-called ‘gateway hypothesis’. Despite several theoretical works supporting such hypothesis, particularly through in-game microtransactions as seen in contemporary video games, little empirical investigation has been carried out to date testing the ‘gateway hypothesis’ between online gambling and disordered gaming. To achieve this goal, a sub-sample of gamblers and gamers (n = 553) from a larger online survey study has been examined. Participants filled out the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) assessing disordered gaming and the four items of the online gambling factor from the specific internet-based problematic behaviours (s-IAT) assessing online disordered gambling. A network analysis approach has been adopted to estimate the degree of empirical convergence between these two disorders. Overall, the results obtained indicated that ‘preoccupation’ in online gambling disorder and ‘loss of control’ in disordered gaming appear to be associated (r = .09). However, this association was not robust enough to fully corroborate the ‘gateway hypothesis’ between these two disorders. Further studies are needed to examine whether the ‘gateway hypothesis’ may be specific to online or offline gambling and gaming activities in the context of disordered usage.