Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The prevalence of online gambling and online loan use among young people presents a social problem that requires examination of the relationship between access to digital financing and gambling behavior. This study aimed to analyze the role of online loans as a criminogenic factor that may encourage young people’s involvement in online gambling. The study employed a literature review method with qualitative descriptive analysis and a criminological approach. The analytical framework drew on differential association theory and strain theory. The review findings indicated that rapid access to loans without adequate oversight could reinforce the cycle of gambling addiction and financial dependence. The ease of fund disbursement allows individuals to use loans to continue gambling in an attempt to recover losses (chasing losses), thereby prolonging the losing phase. Within the framework of these two theories, economic pressure, a hedonistic lifestyle orientation, and the desire for peer acceptance interact with easy access to digital financing to sustain gambling behavior. This review positions online loans as a factor that may facilitate continued gambling, particularly when the need for funds to chase losses coincides with easy access to credit. These findings provide a criminological understanding of the relationship between digital financing, socioeconomic pressures, and gambling behavior among young people. The implications of this study emphasize the need for integrated policies to address the problem through penal and nonpenal approaches supported by the integration of data from Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), restrictions on digital advertising, and structured digital financial literacy programs.
Source: AHKAM
Author: Salman Farisi
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7223171376