Australia's gambling epidemic: The role of Covid‐19 support payment

Covid‐19 exposed the whole world to numerous challenges ranging from health to economic recession. Nevertheless, it also impeded gambling activities. Here, we consider the relationship between Covid‐19 support payment and gambling. Gambling is considered leisure for many game players but leads to multiple social and economic harms. This has led to a growing body of literature examining the factors that influence gambling. This paper contributes to this strand of the literature by utilizing the ordinary least square and instrumental variable approach to investigate if Covid‐19 support payment is a driver of gambling. We utilize a wide range of gambling measures and different forms of Covid‐19 support payment. Our findings show that Covid‐19 support payment is positively associated with gambling. Our results also suggest a stronger effect for male gamblers and online gamblers compared to female gamblers and gamblers who gambled at the venue.