Inquiry Post 4: What Digital Literacy Can Do to Reduce the Harms of Online Gambling

aryadaeipour

For the final parts of the inquiry, I started thinking less about the problem itself and more about what people can actually do in response to it. Up to this point, most of my inquiry has been about the harms, the design features, and the way gambling gets normalized online. Now I feel like my question is changing again. I am less focused on just proving that online gambling can be harmful, and more focused on what digital literacy can do before that harm becomes normal. The more I researched this topic, the more I realized that digital literacy is one of the main parts of the actual response to the problem. 

What digital literacy can help people notice

One thing digital literacy can do is help people slow down and question what they are looking at. A 2022 systematic review found that young people’s attitudes were influenced by advertising, and that critical reasoning abilities during adolescence did not seem fully developed or protective against those effects (Packer et al., 2022). That stood out to me because it shows that simply understanding that an ad is trying to persuade you is not always enough: If gambling content is designed well, it can still shape how people feel about risk, rewards, and whether betting seems normal or exciting which can be frightening. 

This makes critical thinking feel a lot more practical to me because with online gambling, it can mean asking really basic questions that people might skip past. Why is this app offering me a “free bet”? Why is this ad making the outcome feel easy to predict? Why is there a countdown, a boosted odds message, or some urgent push to act right now? When you really start to think about it, it does start to feel a little suspicious. The YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Youth Gambling Awareness Program describes media literacy and critical thinking as harm reduction strategies, and encourages people to question the intent behind gambling ads, notice what information is present, and pay attention to what is missing (YGAP, 2020). I think that is one of the clearest ways to explain it. Digital literacy helps people notice the message, but more importantly the gaps inside the message as well. 

Looking past entertainment

Another thing I keep coming back to is the difference between entertainment and engineered engagement. Online gambling is often framed like fun, competition, or just part of sports culture, but the systems behind it are designed to keep people spending and returning. Research on digital payment solutions in gambling found that fast deposits, auto-deposit functions, and reduced friction can lower awareness of money and time spent, which can contribute to more harmful gambling patterns (Lakew et al., 2024). That made me realize that platform awareness matters a lot here. Sometimes the risk is not just the bet itself. Sometimes it is the whole environment that makes spending feel smooth and forgettable. 

Practical things to watch for

At this point, I think there are a few practical things people should watch for when they interact with gambling content online. One is language that sounds low-risk, especially stuff like “free bets” or special bonuses. Another is urgency. If a platform is pushing someone to act quickly, there is probably a reason. A third is personalization. Research done on gambling marketing found that children and young people are exposed to gambling advertising across media including social media, and one of the research questions was whether seeing online promotions leads people to click through to gambling sites to place bets or spend money (Ipsos MORI, 2020). That makes it feel worth asking what the platform gains every time it targets someone more effectively. 

Where my inquiry is heading

What has changed most for me is that I no longer see online gambling harm as only a health or addiction issue. I am starting to see it as a digital literacy issue too, because so much of the risk depends on media awareness, platform awareness, and being able to recognize manipulation before it starts to feel normal. For the final stage of this project, I want to focus more directly on how awareness, platform critique, and critical evaluation can reduce harm. 

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