Inquiry Post 1: Why I Chose Online Gambling

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For my digital literacy inquiry project, I chose to look at the harms of online gambling. Sports betting ads are everywhere now. They show up during games, on social media, on streaming platforms, and even in apps that are not really about gambling at all. The more I started paying attention, the more I realized how important it is to talk about this topic.

That is what made this topic feel connected to digital literacy for me. Digital literacy is about being able to question what we see online, who benefits from it, and how platforms influence our behaviour. Online gambling really fits that idea because it depends on persuasive design.

What I Learned So Far

One of the biggest things I learned during this inquiry process is that gambling harm is a public health issue. The World Health Organization explains that gambling can threaten health and contribute to financial problems, relationship damage, and mental health harms, including links to suicide risk (WHO, 2024). Reading that made me take the topic more seriously because gambling is often presented online as entertainment, almost like it is harmless if it is “just for fun.”

I also learned that younger people are especially vulnerable. The American Psychological Association notes that people in their early 20s are one of the fastest-growing groups of gamblers, which stood out to me because that is basically my age group (APA, 2023). That made this topic feel a lot more relevant and less distant. It is easy to think of gambling as something that only affects older adults in casinos, but that image does not really match what is happening now.

Another thing I found interesting is how online gambling blends into digital culture. The WHO has also pointed out that games can include gambling-like features, such as loot boxes and microtransactions, which can normalize similar reward systems online (WHO, 2020.). That matters for digital literacy because it shows how gambling habits do not always begin in obvious ways. Sometimes the behaviour is introduced through design patterns that seem normal, fun, or even harmless.

My Reflection on the Inquiry Process

What surprised me most is how much this topic made me think differently about the internet itself. Before researching, I mostly saw online gambling as a risky activity people chose to do. Now I see it more as something built into digital environments in ways that can be hard to notice unless you stop and question them. That is where digital literacy becomes important. If people can recognize manipulation, emotional targeting, and reward-based design, they may be better able to protect themselves.

I also realized this topic matters because being “good with technology” is not enough. Someone can know how to use apps perfectly and still be vulnerable to how those apps are designed. CAMH’s research on youth mental health and gambling helped reinforce that gambling-related problems are part of a wider conversation about young people, risk, and digital environments (CAMH, 2024).

Concluding Reflection

So far, this inquiry has made me see online gambling as more than a personal habit. It is also a digital literacy issue because it involves influence, design, and critical awareness. Moving forward, I want to keep exploring not just what the harms are, but how people can become more aware of them before those harms become normal.

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