Soft forms of gambling: popularity, availability, and risk level in relation to the development of gambling careers

Project: Junior Grant of Palacký University (no. JG_2023_003)
Project duration: 01/2023 to 12/2025
Principal grant receiver and project leader: Department of Geography (Faculty of Science UP), doc. Mgr. David Fiedor, Ph.D.

Project specification

Gambling significantly affects many aspects of social reality and is therefore an issue that has long been the subject of various scientific disciplines. However, research to date has generally focused on "hard" forms of gambling (casino games, slot machines). In contrast, "soft" forms of gambling have, with a few exceptions, remained somewhat outside the scope of professional interest. Yet these are the most widespread and accessible forms of gambling. Our project aims to thoroughly understand the phenomenon of gambling, which poses varying degrees of social danger, in the context of real life, specifically in its geographical and psychological contexts. The main objective of the project is to identify, analyze, and interpret the degree of popularity, accessibility, and factors related to the risk of developing problem gambling in soft forms of gambling.

Project team and roles:

Project Highlights

Interdisciplinarity: Within the project, we applied an interdisciplinary approach to the study of gambling, combining geography (i.e., a spatial perspective—the presence, concentration, and accessibility of gambling venues within individual municipalities and their perception by residents) and psychology (participation in gambling, attitudes toward gambling, and problem gambling). On this basis, a new research team composed of geographers and psychologists was formed.

Focus: Within the broad spectrum of gambling forms, we focused on the somewhat neglected issue of its soft forms, first conducting extensive research to identify which games the scientific community perceives as soft, i.e., associated with a lower risk of problem gambling. We also focused on how this issue is perceived by the public and by problem gamblers undergoing treatment.

Research territory: We used the Czech Republic as our "research laboratory", as it plays a key role in Europe in terms of gambling, whether in terms of the number of casinos per capita, the less negative attitude of the public towards gambling in general, or its significant regulation (whether at the state or local level). In our case studies, we focused on the Olomouc Region, which exceeds the Czech Republic's average in all aspects, particularly in terms of the number of different types of gambling establishments per capita.

Data: We used geographically localized data (geodata) on gambling venues and outlets (listed in the databases of the Ministry of Finance or on the websites of betting companies), questionnaire surveys (both paper and online), and structured interviews with problem gamblers in treatment. Three campaigns were carried out in this way:

1) a selective survey of the population of the Olomouc Region (June 2023), in which 2,724 respondents from 277 (69%) municipalities in the research region participated
2) a representative survey among regular adult gamblers (conducted by the STEM/MARK agency; November-December 2023), in which 4,313 respondents (1,503 active gamblers) participated
3) structured interviews with problem gamblers under treatment (2025–2026), with a total of 12 interviews conducted

Methods: In addition to traditional descriptive and inferential statistical methods for evaluating the collected data, we also used...

Spatial analyses in GIS software (primarily QGIS), whether it was the time accessibility of gambling venues and outlets, measuring the number of gambling opportunities in a given region or neighborhood, or the concentration of venues per unit area or population.
ATGS-8, a shortened version of the Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale, which is used to assess public attitudes towards gambling. It is used in several countries around the world (Australia, Great Britain, Finland, etc.). It contains eight statements to which respondents respond using a 5-point Likert scale (from strongly agree to disagree strongly). Respondents are awarded points for each answer. The higher the "score," the more positive the attitude toward gambling.
PGSI short form is a shortened version of a psychometric tool used to measure the severity of problem gambling in individuals. It contains three questions, which respondents answer using a 4-point scale (0 = never to 3 = almost always).

Project outputs

Kovařík, F., Fiedor, D., Frajer, J., Aigelová, E., Šerý, M., Charvát, M. (2025): Where to place my bets? Players’ adaptation to the reduction of gambling venues. Moravian Geographical Reports, 33(4), 198–208. https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2025-0016 [link]

Fiedor, D., Kovařík, F., Frajer, J., Šerý, M., Aigelová, E., Charvát, M. (2025): The geography of gambling access: Insights from a saturated central European market. GeoJournal, 90(6), 267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-025-11521-3 [link]

Kovařík, F., Fiedor, D., Frajer, J., Šerý, M., Charvát, M., Aigelová, E. (2025): Daily Encounters as a Measure of Accessibility: An Innovative Approach to Assessing the Influence of Gambling Landscape on Gambler’s Behaviour. Journal of Gambling Studies, 41(3), 1247–1267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-025-10392-0 [link]

Kovařík, F., Fiedor, D. (2025): Soft Forms and Hard Forms of Gambling: A Systematic Review with a Narrative Synthesis. Current Addiction Reports, 12(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-025-00656-5 [link]

Fiedor, D., Charvát, M., Kovařík, F., Frajer, J., Aigelová, E., Šerý, M. (2025): Perceived Riskiness and Problem Gambling Across Different Forms of Gambling: A Focus on 'Soft' Gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 41(2), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-024-10370-y [link]

Frajer, J., Fiedor, D., Kovařík, F., Šerý, M., Aigelová, E., Charvát, M. (2024): Changing ‘casinoscape’: spatial patterns of casino municipalities and impacts of the new gambling act in the Czech Republic. Journal of Maps, 20(1), 2387921. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2024.2387921 [link]