Online gambling involves betting or playing games of chance or skill for money, through a computer, tablet, smartphone or other electronic devices. It is a popular pastime for many people, and can lead to serious problems if not addressed. It is important for trusted adults to educate children and young people about what online gambling is and how to spot potential problem behaviours.

In addition, a number of interventions can help someone overcome a gambling addiction. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one such intervention. During CBT, a person works with a therapist to identify faulty thoughts and behaviors (e.g., the belief that they are due to win after a streak of losses). The therapist then teaches them tools to reframe these harmful thoughts and respond to them more appropriately. Another helpful intervention is motivational interviewing. During motivational interviewing, a counselor helps a person identify their ambivalence about changing their gambling habits.

The goal of this article is to provide a synthesis and systematization of the knowledge that exists regarding risk and protective factors for online gambling among adult populations. This was achieved by analyzing articles using the PICO research design: population, intervention, comparison, outcome. The search was limited to peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2020. Two types of comparisons were made: comparison of the characteristics that distinguish offline and online gamblers, and comparison of online nonproblematic and pathological gambling clusters. The results suggest that social protective factors should be promoted in online gambling prevention programs because solitary play and isolating habitual patterns are often associated with problematic gambling.