The Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic on Gambling Behavior Intention: The Moderating Effect of Anti-Epidemic Measure

This study focuses on how the COVID-19 epidemic affects gambling motivation and behavior. This research also analyzes the behavioral intervention effects of the anti-epidemic measures on the COVID-19 epidemic and the relationship between the epidemic impact and gambling motivation and behavior. To investigate these connections, this research used Structural Equation Modeling to analyze 334 valid questionnaires collected during COVID-19 from gamblers from mainland China who visited the Macao Special Administrative Region. The results showed that the epidemic impact negatively affected gambling motivation and behavior, and gambling motivation partially mediated the relationship between epidemic impact and gambling behavior. Anti-epidemic measures positively moderated the epidemic’s impact on gambling motivation and behavior. This paper offers a theoretical contribution by proving the influence of the social environment on human motivational behavior, especially the effect of the COVID-19 crisis, and the support of government and enterprise anti-epidemic measures for behavior intervention theory. The practicality of this study consists of behavioral interventions from anti-epidemic efforts by regional government and industry to cope with the epidemic. These measures should influence the gamblers’ behavior intentions by considering the health and safety strategies that may reduce the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mainland Chinese gamblers.